This Babylonian cuneiform is a real-world object. Made of baked clay, it was built to last. However, for several millennia, no one could read what it said. As a message, it suddenly returned to functionality within modern times.
The top part is an address, the ending is a formal salutation, and the two Twitter-length lines in the middle bear the semantic content, which is, basically, "Your instructions have been received and it will be as you say." We also know that it was written by a Babylonian functionary to an Egyptian overlord, but we have no other records of these two people.
So: for a brief while it was bureaucratic news, then it was history, then it was in semantic oblivion for millennia, then it again became history, although in a context so fragmentary that we don't know who sent it, who received it, why, how, or what it means.
Also, it's in an Italian museum vitrine now, although it will likely be stuffed back into some dark, obscure drawer in short order.
Since its creation, it has always remained the same physical object, but its historical context shifts radically.
Loading contexts...
