Land Of Firsts

From the tablets of the Babylonians to the telescopes of modern science, humans have always looked to the skies for fundamental answers.

The Babylonians had a serious observational program. They mapped in great detail the motions of planets along the Zodiac—the belt about 8 degrees to either side of the ecliptic, and divided into 12 constellations. For example, the Venus Tablet of Ammisaduqa, dating from about the mid-17th century BCE, recorded the risings and settings of Venus for a period of 21 years. The main goal was astrological. The Babylonians tried to interpret the planet’s positions as omens for the king.

We have to wonder what inspires this prevalent and constant fascination with the skies. Why, from astrology to astronomy, does it endure?
In ancient times and for many indigenous cultures, the skies were (and still are) sacred. Countless religious narratives and mythical tales from across the planet attest to this. To know the skies was to have some level of control over the course of events that affected people, communities, and kingdoms. The gods wrote their messages on the dark canvas of the night sky, using the celestial luminaries as their ink. The shaman, the priest, the holy man or woman were the interpreters, the decoders. They could translate the will of the gods into a message the people could understand.

From astrology to astronomy, humans always look to the skies From the tablets of the Babylonians to the telescopes of modern science, humans have always looked to the skies for fundamental answers.

Becoming a Scribe—Step by Step

The first step was to cover the basics: transforming a lump of moist clay into a tablet. The next challenge was to use a reed stylus to form intelligible signs on the clay. A famous line from a literary work points out, “The beginning of the scribal art is the single wedge”. To gain some routine, the student impressed his stylus over and over again into the clay (Figure 1), producing the horizontal, vertical, and oblique wedges of which cuneiform characters were comprised.

In the next phase of their studies, the “sons of the tablet house” (Sumerian: d u m u e 2 – d u b – b a – a ) had to expand their vocabulary. This was achieved by copying an important thematic list, a forerunner of what would eventually become a compendium spanning thousands of entries that according to its first entry was referred to as Ura, “loan.”

After Ura, students studied more advanced lists, including metrological lists and mathematical tables, but also syllabaries (such as Ea and Diri) and word lists whose entries are arranged according to their initial signs (for example, Izi, Kagal, and N***a).

Another exercise in a scribe’s education, and at the same time an avenue toward more advanced training in Sumerian literature, involved short sayings or proverbs, many of which were again put together in longer collections.

In the more advanced stages of the scribal education, the use of typical school texts decreased. Students copied instead from memory parts of major Sumerian literary compositions.

Scribes who had finished their training and wished to mark their transition into a new stage in their lives deposited prisms in the local shrine of Nisaba, the goddess of writing, as a sort of “final essay.”

Popular Archeology - Becoming a Scribe On Aspects of Education and Apprenticeship in Ancient Mesopotamia

𝐀𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐞𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐬𝐨 𝐨𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐛𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐞𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐬𝐬𝐲𝐫𝐢𝐚 𝐚𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐍𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐄𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐞𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐚𝐣𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐑𝐨𝐲𝐚𝐥 𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐑𝐨𝐲𝐚𝐥 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧

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How the world’s first civilization made laws so powerful, they’re still in use today
Almost 200 years before the creation of Hammurabi's Code, ancient Sumerian King Lipit-Ishtar created a set of laws

King Lipit-Ishtar's legal codes were created to determine the rights of ordinary citizens, including concepts like minimum wage and presumption of innocence, dating all the way back to 2100 BC.

The Code of Lipit-Ishtar (circa 1860 BC) was inscribed on a stone slab, discovered at the site of the ancient Sumerian city of Nippur in modern-day Iraq

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Until now, there has been scant archaeological evidence about the Amorites.

A new research article about Amorite and Akkadian languages has found evidence of the Amorite language on a pair of ancient Babylonian tablets.

The tablets are believed to be around 4,000 years old.

One tablet is written in the Akkadian language, while the researchers believe the other is written in the Amorite language which is completely different.

They say it is similar to Hebrew and Aramaic.

Many experts didn’t believe the Amorites had their own language

It’s believed the tablets were illegally taken from Iraq following the first Gulf War, three decades ago.

They were found separately in private collections in London and New York

Ancient Artifacts Reveal That Biblical Amorites Had Their Own Language - Vision Christian Media Amorite writing found on 4,000 year old tablets stolen from Iraq after First Gulf War.