It has been remarked that clay cones "are certainly the most unusual of the variety of objects upon which Assyrian royal inscriptions were inscribed. Unlike bricks, statues, reliefs, steles, and even clay tablets, the form and function of which are immediately recognizable, the clay cones do not fit any pattern familiar to our modern minds."[48] Moreover, "cone" — or "knob," "boss," "peg," or "nail" as used in other scholarly literature — is not really an adequate translation of the Akkadian word sikkatu, the term for these objects that appears regularly in the corpus of Assyrian royal inscriptions. Although there is quite a diversity in the shape of these sikkatu, the cones all have a tapered shaft that comes almost to a point and a large, hollow, semi-spherical head; the shaft was sometimes inserted into the center of a decorated clay plate and the combined cone and plate were placed in the interior room of a building with the plate flat against the wall and the head of the cone protruding.[49] The cones themselves, like their companion plates, could be enameled with a variety of colors (black, white, yellow, brown, red, green, and blue).
At present, the only known Akkadian inscription written on clay cones from the 668–612 period dates to the reign of Sîn-šarra-iškun.[50] That Akkadian text, which is known from at least fifteen cones inscribed in the eponymy of the chief cook Saʾīlu (see the section Eponym Dates below), records in a very cursory fashion Sîn-šarra-iškun's construction of the god Nabû's temple at Aššur.[51]
In addition, at least two Sumerian inscriptions of Sîn-balāssu-iqbi, one of the governors of Ur while Ashurbanipal was king, were written on clay cones (which are more in the shape of a nail), all of which originate from Ur (modern Tell Muqayyar).[52] The first text, which is known from a single exemplar, states that that governor restored Etemennigurru ("House, Foundation Clad in Awe-Inspiring Radiance"), the ziggurat terrace of Ekišnugal, the temple complex of the moon-god at Ur.[53] The second inscription, which is attested from thirteen different exemplars, states that Sîn-balāssu-iqbi rebuilt Gipāru(ku) and constructed a statue for the goddess Ningal, the consort of Sîn (Nanna).[54]
[48] Donbaz and Grayson, RICCA p. 1.
[49] For further details on cones and plates (with references to earlier studies, photographs, and drawings), see Donbaz and Grayson, RICCA pp. 1–4; and Nunn, Knaufplatten passim. The majority of the known Assyrian clay cones come from Aššur.
[50] Ssi 11.
[51] George, House Most High p. 94 no. 397.
[52] Asb. 2004–2005.
[53] George, House Most High p. 114 no. 653 and p. 149 no. 1090.
[54] George, House Most High p. 93 no. 385.
Jamie Novotny
Jamie Novotny, 'Clay Cones', RINAP 5: The Royal Inscriptions of Ashurbanipal, Aššur-etel-ilāni, and Sîn-šarra-iškun, The RINAP/RINAP 5 Project, a sub-project of MOCCI, 2023 [http://oracc.org/rinap/rinap5/rinap53introduction/surveyofinscribedobjects/claycones/]