Hymn of Babylon is pieced together after 2,100 YEARS: Scientists use AI to reconstruct ancient song

Daily Mail​

02-07-2025

A hymn dedicated to the ancient city of Babylon has been discovered after 2,100 years.
Sung to the god Marduk, patron deity of the great city, the poem describes Babylon's flowing rivers, jewelled gates, and 'bathed priests' in stunning detail.
Although the song was lost to time after Alexander the Great captured the city, fragments of clay tablets survived in the ruins of Sippar, a city 40 miles to the North.
In a process that would have taken 'decades' to complete by hand, researchers used AI to piece together 30 different tablet pieces and recover the lost hymn.
Originally 250 lines long, scientists have been able to translate a third of the original cuneiform text.
These lines reveal a uniquely rich and detailed description of aspects of Babylonian life that had never been recorded before.
Lead researcher Professor Enrique Jiménez, of Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU), told MailOnline that the hymn's literary quality is 'exceptional'.
'It's meticulously structured, with each section flowing seamlessly into the next,' he said.
The hymn begins with grand praise to the god Marduk, calling him the 'architect of the universe'.
The poem's author then turns to the city of Babylon, describing it as a rich paradise of abundance.
The hymn writes: 'Like the sea, (Babylon) proffers her yield, like a garden of fruit, she flourishes in her charms, like a wave, her swell brings her bounties rolling in.'
There are also descriptions of the river Euphrates, which still runs through modern-day Iraq, and its floodplains upon which 'herds and flocks lie on verdant pastures'.
However, as Professor Jiménez points out, the hymn also gives a unique insight into Babylonian morality.
Professor Jiménez: 'The hymn reflects ideals the Babylonians valued, such as respect for foreigners and protection of the vulnerable.'
The hymn praises priests who do not 'humiliate' foreigners, free prisoners, and offer 'succor and favor' to orphans.
Likewise, the poem gives some striking details about the lives of women in Babylon who are rarely mentioned elsewhere.
'For example, it reveals that one group of priestesses acted as midwives—a role unattested in other sources,' says Professor Jiménez.
The poem describes these priestesses as 'cloistered women who, with their skill, nourish the womb with life'.
What makes this discovery particularly exciting is how important the poem appears to have been to the Babylonians.
Babylonians recorded information in a writing system called cuneiform, which involved pressing a sharpened reed into soft clay to make triangular marks.
Even after Babylon was conquered in 331 BC, many of these clay tablets have survived until the present day.
Excavations at the city of Sippar have yielded hundreds of clay tablets which, according to legends, were placed there by Noah to hide them from the floodwaters.
These fragments show that the hymn was being used in Babylonian schools as an educational tool for around 1,000 years.
Professor Jiménez believes that the poem was originally written sometime around 1500-1300, making it one of the earliest long poems from Babylon.
The oldest surviving version of the text comes from a fragment belonging to a school dating to the seventh century BC.
However, the tablets from Sippar show that the poem was still being copied out by children in schools right up to the last days of Babylon in 100 BC - 1,400 years after it was composed.
That is the equivalent of children today learning about a poem written around 700 AD, such as the Old English poem Beowulf.
The researchers say that this importance would have put the Hymn to Babylon alongside the Epic of Gilgamesh, the oldest known long-form poem in human history.
Professor Jiménez says that, although the hymn was written later than the Epic of Gilgamesh, both would have 'circulated side by side for centuries'.
Unlike the Epic of Gilgamesh, the researchers believe that the Hymn to Babylon was written by a single author rather than by collecting traditional texts over time.
Although this author's name is currently unknown, Professor Jiménez remains hopeful that this may change in the future.
He says: 'We have been digitising the British Museum's cuneiform collection over the last few years and discovered previously unknown author names, so we may yet identify the hymn's creator in the future.'
Excerpts from The Hymn to Babylon
Like the sea, (Babylon) proffers her yield,
Like a garden of fruit, she flourishes in her charms,
Like a wave, her swell brings her bounties rolling in.
Marduk's star, delightful, precious sun, is her auspicious sign,
Wherever the sun (is), is her gate, the distant heavens.
Imgur-Enlil is her primeval wall - the mountain of the just,
Alulu is her king - the father of all generations.
The Euphrates is her river – established by wise lord Nudimmud -
It quenches the lea, saturates the canebrake,
Disgorges its waters into lagoon and sea,
Its fields burgeon with herbs and flowers,
Its meadows, in brilliant bloom, sprout barley,
From which, gathered, sheaves are stacked,
Herds and flocks lie on verdant pastures,
Wealth and splendor - what befit mankind -
Are bestowed, multiplied, and regally granted
...
Bathed priests of Ištarān, pure priests of Šamaš, Buḫlû-priests of Šušinak, Nippureans of Enlil -
The foreigners among them they do not humiliate.
The humble they protect, their weak they support, Under their care, the poor and destitute can thrive.
To the orphan they offer succor and favor,
The prisoner they set free, the captive they release (even) at the cost of a silver talent,
With the absent person they share the inheritance,
Piously observing, they return kindness.
...
(Their) women who have become masters in their duties:
High priestesses who keep (their) vow to their bridegrooms,
Cloistered women who, with their skill, nourish the womb with life
Holy women who cleanse with pure water.
hey keep the prohibitions and adhere to what is sacred,
Kneeling in prayer, armed with a supplication,
Reverent and vigilant, mindful of good works, They visit the sanctuaries, seeking life.
Skilled in benevolence, they act with propriety.
They (the women) are the cows of all Babylon, the herds of Ištar,
They (the men) are the ones freed by Marduk.