Latest news with #ancientliterature
Yahoo
02-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Babylonian text missing for 1,000 years deciphered with AI
A team of ancient literature experts have deciphered a Mesopotamain text that was missing for over 1,000 years. Etched on clay tablets, the Hymn to Babylon describes the ancient megacity in 'all of its majesty,' and gives new insights into the everyday lives of those who resided there. The text is detailed in a study published in the journal Iraq. Founded in Mesopotamia around 2,000 BCE, Babylon was once the largest city in the world. Babylon's ruins are a UNESCO World Heritage Site about 52 miles outside of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad. At its height, the city was a cultural hub that inspired written works that still form part of our global heritage today. A religious text called the Enuma elish or Babylonian Epic of Creation details the creation of the universe and the rise of Marduk, the city's chief god. The Code of Hammurabi is one of the oldest surviving legal frameworks, and includes the concept of 'innocent until proven guilty.'. Babylonian texts were primarily composed of an ancient writing system called cuniform on clay tablets. Most of these tablets have only survived in tiny fragments. One of the goals of a team from the University of Baghdad in Iraq and Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich in Germany has been to decipher and preserve hundreds of cuneiform tablets included in the Sippar Library. This collection of texts was uncovered in the Temple of Shamash in the ancient city of Sippar, Iraq. Legends also say that Old Testament hero Noah hid tablets in Sippar before boarding his ark when the floodwaters came. [ Related: 6,000-year-old Mesopotamian artifacts linked to the dawn of writing. ] In the Electronic Babylonian Library Platform, study co-author and Assyriologist Enrique Jiménez is digitizing all of the cuneiform text fragments that have been discovered around the world. With the help of artificial intelligence (AI), he is piecing together fragments that belong together. 'Using our AI-supported platform, we managed to identify 30 other manuscripts that belong to the rediscovered hymn – a process that would formerly have taken decades,' Jiménez said in a statement. With these additional texts, the team was able to completely decipher this ancient hymn of praise. In it, they found some new insights into Babylonian urban society and believe that the Hymn to Babylon was very widespread. 'The hymn was copied by children at school. It's unusual that such a popular text in its day was unknown to us before now,' Jiménez said. The song of triumph–or paean–likely dates back to the start of the first millennium before Christ and is made up of 250 lines. 'It was written by a Babylonian who wanted to praise his city,' said Jiménez. 'The author describes the buildings in the city, but also how the waters of the Euphrates bring the spring and green the fields. This is all the more spectacular as surviving Mesopotamian literature is sparing in its descriptions of natural phenomena.' One of the exciting new discoveries includes new information regarding Babylonian women–many were priestesses. The hymns also describe the inhabitants as being respectful to foreigners. The lines below are from a newly discovered hymn, describing the river Euphrates. The city was located on the riverbanks at the time. 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. Continued advances could potentially lead to better translations of this ancient celebration of a great city.
Times
02-07-2025
- Science
- Times
Rediscovery of Babylon epic poem is a reason to cheer AI
An artist's impression of Babylon ALAMY '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.' These words, written around 3,000 years ago, were known by heart by people in the Babylonian empire for centuries. They have just been recovered with the help of AI. The words form part of a 250-line poem deciphered from fragments of hundreds of cuneiform tablets discovered in the library of Sippar, a lost city 40 miles north of Baghdad. Without AI, says Professor Enrique Jiménez, of Ludwig-Maximilians University, the joint Iraqi- German project would have taken decades. • Inside the library where cutting-edge tech is unlocking the secrets of ancient scrolls Dating from 300 years before the Iliad and the Odyssey, the poem was recovered from 30 separate manuscripts written over a 600-year period. This suggests that it was a work of great importance, possibly the Babylonian equivalent of Greece's Homeric hymns and Rome's Aeneid. Indeed, it appears to have been on the Babylonian school curriculum, some of the research sources being schoolchildren's tablets. Such texts were learned by heart at the time. That's partly why the find is so exciting: it's unusual for such a significant piece of literature to be lost and then to resurface. But the poem is also a powerful literary work, using vivid language reminiscent of the Psalms to bring the city and its fertile agricultural hinterland to life. And it reveals some fascinating features of Babylonian society, such as the importance of women priests and the respect accorded to foreigners. Humanity is understandably alarmed by AI's potential to shake contemporary civilisation to its foundations, and so tends to focus on the threats it may pose. But it is important also to remember its many upsides, such as its potential for revealing the lost cultural riches of ancient civilisation. Like fruitful Babylon, AI has much to yield.
