More than 300 cuneiform tablets returned to Iraq by a private Lebanese museum arrived Monday in Baghdad, where authorities are working to recover from abroad antiquities looted in the country ravaged by successive conflicts.
Read alsoThe Gilgamesh tablet, a Mesopotamian jewel, will be returned to Iraq on Thursday
The wooden boxes sealed with red wax containing the 331 cuneiform tablets and six clay tablets arrived by private plane, after their return by the Nabu museum (north of Lebanon), noted an AFP journalist.
"
Today, Iraq has recovered 331 cuneiform tablets
", rejoiced in a press conference the director of the Iraqi Council of Antiquities and Heritage, Laith Majid Hussein.
The origin of cuneiform symbols
These cuneiform tablets date from different periods, he said, citing in particular the Akkadian era (2400 to 2200 BC), the Sumerian third dynasty of Ur (2111 to 2006 BC .), and ancient Babylon (2004 to 1594 BC).
The kingdom of Ur, founded more than 4500 years ago, was one of the first centers of civilization.
Established on the fertile banks of the Euphrates, it was there that for the first time in the history of mankind writing in the form of cuneiform symbols was used.
Mr. Hussein thanked the cooperation of the Lebanese authorities, as well as the director of the Nabu museum, "
very cooperative on this file
" because he "
facilitated the restitution
".
On Sunday an Iraqi delegation received the antiquities in an official ceremony at the National Museum in Beirut.
The ancient wealth of the Nabu Museum
The Nabu Museum, named after the Mesopotamian god of wisdom and writing, opened in 2018, with hundreds of ancient pieces, some 3,000 years old, from Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Egypt or from Yemen.
These pieces come from private collections, notably that of Jawad Adra, the husband of the former Minister of Defense of Lebanon, Zeina Akkar.
According to the museum's catalog in 2018, Mr. Adra's personal collection has some 2,000 pieces.
In one year, Iraq has recovered nearly 18,000 artifacts, including 17,899 pieces returned by the United States.
The authorities had organized a ceremony in December celebrating the return of a "
tablet of Gilgamesh
", a 3,500-year-old Mesopotamian jewel.
Iraqi antiquities have been looted for decades thanks to the many conflicts that the country has experienced, particularly after the American invasion of 2003, then the arrival of jihadists from the Islamic State (IS) group in 2014, who committed to this juicy traffic to replenish their coffers.