Page 110 - The Secret Museum

Almost all of the tablets, no matter what their size, are covered with writing, on

the back and on the front. ‘If you write a postcard home to your auntie, you usually
fill all the space up, don’t you?’, Finkel asked me. The scribes of Nineveh of 600 BC
were no different.

They put a little more effort into their writing in one sense, though, by inventing
right-justified text. If they couldn’t fill a line with text, they filled it with dots or drew
a horizontal line. ‘It looks more authoritative. We do it sometimes, now that we have
computers, but we don’t often make the effort, like they did, when we’re writing by
hand.’ He pointed out the dots and lines on some clay tablets to me so I could see it

for myself.

Finkel is a great host. He is able to make the Ancient Assyrian world come alive.
When I left the Arched Room and walked into the public galleries of the British
Museum, I found myself in Room 9, which is filled with reliefs from the king’s
palace in Nineveh. Suddenly, everything in that room was shimmering with life. I
now know that beyond the reliefs showing images of battle and war is a library filled
with love letters, stories, poems, spells, recipes and a school exercise book of the
last great king of Assyria.

Anyone can go to the Arched Room to take a look: ‘If you have the keys to

treasure, as we do, it is unforgivable not to give people access to it. We’re very
proud that anyone can come in here and read and see things they would like to see,’
Finkel explained. He often shows children the wonderful clay tablets and would love
to persuade them to learn cuneiform and enjoy the rewards it brings. ‘There is still so
much to do. We need students to study cuneiform and keep the giant jigsaw going.’

I had a look at his actual keys, the huge bunch of them he carries around each day.
The biggest, oldest one is the key to the collection: it opens the Arched Room in
which the tablets are stored. On it are the words ‘If lost, 20 shillings reward’ – not a

generous reward then, considering the treasures the key can unlock for you.