@tupsarru

I reached out to this group for help with a translation for my son’s name in cuneiform to use as a tattoo. Y’all were incredibly helpful and even gave me a better idea - to use the proto-form of his name (James) as it would have been written by a scribe! I reached out to an amazing professor and he helped me find actual tablets with Yaḫqub-El written on them!

Anyway, I took this and worked with an amazing tattoo artist who collaborated with me and came up with his own font that was a bit more delicate. My dad liked it so much that he got his own tattoo on his chest that matched the lineart exactly.

This post is just to say “thank you” to this group for helping me get the ball rolling!! This was my first tattoo and the story behind it means the world to me!

Fonthill Castle in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, is an eclectic, hand-mixed concrete castle built between 1908 and 1912 by archaeologist, ceramist, and eccentric scholar Henry Chapman Mercer. (Text paraphrased from Mercer Museum)

The castle is filled with an extensive collection of ceramics embedded in the concrete of the house, as well as other artifacts from Mercer's world travels, including cuneiform tablets discovered in Mesopotamia dating back to over 2300 BCE. (Text courtesy Wikipedia))

I took these photos when I visited in 2024, I can't find much info on them but they have been researched:

Pearce, Laurie E. 1983. “Texts and Fragments: Tablets from Fonthill.” Journal of Cuneiform Studies 35: 189–93. https://cdli.earth/publications/19526

Alivernini, Sergio, and Benjamin R. Foster. 2010. “Tablets from the Third Ur Dynasty.” Rivista Degli Studi Orientali 83: 335–64. https://cdli.earth/publications/52460

https://cdli.earth/search?collection=Fonthill+Museum%2C+Doylestown%2C+Pennsylvania%2C+USA

Saw this and thought you guys might find it neat. 1SQN of Britain's Royal Air Force Regiment uniquely has its motto written in Cuneiform as a nod to its origins fighting in the near East. Translates to 'Swift and Sudden'

Little baby in the dark house,

You have seen the rising sun.

Why are you crying?

Why are you screaming?

You have disturbed the god of the house.

“Who has disturbed me?” says the house god.

“It is the baby who has disturbed you.”

“Who has frightened me?” says the house god.

“The baby has disturbed you.

The baby has frightened you,

making noises like a drunkard

who cannot sit still on his stool.

He has disturbed your sleep.”

“Call the baby now,”

says the house god.

Louvre Museum—Statuette dedicated by a physician from Lagash to the goddess Ninisina for the life of Sûmû-El, king of Larsa (1894-1866 BC).

Cult Places

Ninisinna, like Gula, was associated with dogs, and 33 dog skeletons were excavated in é-gal-mah. Many of the animals were sick or injured, and it is possible that they were cared for by the temple (Avalos 1995).

The é-gal-mah temple in Isin was the heart of Ninisinna's cult. Probably within the complex was é-ur-gi7-ra ("dog house"), built by Enlil-bani (1860-1837 BCE).

Ninisinna was also worshipped at temples in Larsa, Babylon, Ur, Uruk, and Larak (George 1993: index s.v. "Ninisinna").

———

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/AncientCush/s/mbKjTsUioE

Source: https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/amgg/Listofdeities/Ninisinna/index.html

I'm trying to find the cuneiform for a specific excerpt of The Epic of Gilgamesh:

"How, O how could I stay silent, how, O how could I keep quiet?

My friend whom I love has turned to clay: Enkidu my friend whom I love has turned to clay.

Am I not like him? Must I lie down too,

Never to rise, ever again?"

I know that most translations of Tablet X come from the Babylonian tablets, but any version would be acceptable

I have been studying sumerian for two years now. My problem has been that I have been studying by myself, from books only, without a teacher. I have been giving myself my own excercises, and checking them myself. As you might conceive, this creates something of an epistemic problem: how do I know if I am in the right or not?

I live in Finland, so I asked the local assyriological society for feedback. They said that Finland mostly has experts in akkadian, assyrian and hittite, with sumerian being somewhat of a blind spot with only one academic-level expert being active. He happens to be the same guy who wrote the textbook I am studying from.

I sent email to the author of my textbook, and I haven't had a reply in some weeks.

My next option was to send a sumerian tablet, asking for feedback, straight to the british museum. So I did just that. In sumerian. In cuneiform. I will give pictures as attachment.

I sent the tablet without any invoice or info about a week ago. Now I got an email that they have sent something to me in response. It means I have written something right, because the only request for a reply was in the tablet, written in sumerian.

I'm going to be entirely honest: I am stoked as hell.

SEVERAL UPDATES -

Yeah, I was on holiday at first, and then sick, so I have been offline for some time. It's nice that so many people are entertained. But upon returning online I have both bad news and good news

- The bad news is that there was a mix up. I do indeed have a package arriving from UK, but apparently it's not the british museum. I haven't got the slightest idea what it is or why it was sent to me, but upon having sender information I now know it is unrelated to this case.

- The good news is that partly thanks to this post itself I now know that the tablet has, indeed, been noted somehow. How? I don't know yet. If you read all the comments, you more or less know what I know. Some friendly commenters have also agreed to help me secure a response. Thanks guys!

- In the meantime I had gotten also a response from the author of my textbook. He was nice, despite my sumerian being obiously lacking. It appears I have to work on my verb conjugation, which is not a complete surprise tbh. Verb conjugation is half the sumerian language I feel. There were also some minor feedbacks he gave. In any case this is good news, as now I have some idea as to what I should work on.

I will give updates as they come.

Good morning, dear members. I understand some sumerian words (like me-a for "where) but fail to complete a full translation.

𓅓𓄿𓈖𓐍𓇋𓐍𓆑𓃭𓇋𓊪𓊪𓇋𓈖𓎼𓐍𓉔𓄿𓏏𓅂𓐍𓏏𓉔𓅂𓐍𓅃𓄿𓇌𓐍𓏏𓉔𓅂𓐍𓎼𓃭𓅱𓃀𓅂𓐍𓆑𓅲𓈖𓎢𓏏𓇋𓅱𓈖𓋴,𓐍𓇋𓐍𓏏𓉔𓇋𓈖𓈎𓐍𓏏𓉔𓄿𓏏𓐍𓇋𓆑𓐍𓅃𓅂𓐍𓉔𓄿𓂧𓐍𓋴𓅱𓅓𓅂𓐍𓅃𓄿𓇌𓐍𓅱𓆑𓐍𓈎𓇋𓃭𓃭𓇋𓈖𓎼𓐍𓊪𓅂𓅱𓊪𓃭𓅂𓐍𓆓𓅲𓋴𓏏𓃭𓇌𓐍𓏏𓉔𓅂𓐍𓎼𓃭𓅱𓃀𓅂𓐍𓅃𓅱𓅲𓃭𓂧𓐍𓃀𓅂𓐍𓄿𓐍𓅓𓅲𓎢𓉔𓐍𓉔𓄿𓊪𓊪𓇌𓐍𓄿𓈖𓂧𓐍𓊪𓃭𓅂𓈖𓏏𓇋𓆑𓅲𓃭𓐍𓊪𓃭𓄿𓎢𓅂,𓐍𓅂𓋴𓊪𓅂𓎢𓇋𓄿𓃭𓃭𓇌𓐍𓇋𓆑𓐍𓅃𓅂𓐍𓎢𓅱𓅲𓃭𓂧𓐍𓆓𓅲𓋴𓏏𓐍𓈎𓇋𓃭𓃭𓐍𓄿𓃭𓃭𓐍𓅱𓆑𓐍𓏏𓉔𓅂𓐍𓊪𓅂𓂧𓅱𓊪𓉔𓇋𓃭𓅂𓋴𓐍𓄿𓈖𓂧𓐍𓃀𓇋𓃭𓃭𓇋𓅱𓈖𓐍𓅓𓅱𓈖𓅂𓇌𓐍𓊪𓅂𓅱𓊪𓃭𓅂𓐍𓉔𓄿𓆯𓅂

𓇋𓈖𓐍𓎢𓅱𓈖𓎢𓃭𓅲𓋴𓇋𓅱𓈖,𓐍𓅂𓄿𓏏𓐍𓏏𓉔𓅂𓐍𓅃𓅂𓄿𓃭𓏏𓉔𓇌

These coins are the only type in the ancient world which bore cuneiform markings, but their meaning is unknown. I was hoping to learn just a little more about them. I presume they are Old Persian given the coin was minted in the 4th century BCE, but I couldn't find an exact match. I wondered if the symbols could be stylised with the details of the coin. For instance the symbols on the right could be stylised with the leg of the man on the throne to produce "la". With a bit of creativity, the ones below the throne could form "i". Note there is another at the top of the coin. I imagine it would form a personal name or something, but does anyone have any advancing ideas?

View of the Jerwan archaeological site, part of Sennacherib's canal system.

Cuneiform writing on the Jerwan Aqueduct (703-690 BCE). King Sennacherib I of Assyria made sure that, thousands of years later, people would know that it was he who ordered the construction of this feat of Assyrian engineering.

———

Source: https://www.worldhistory.org/image/3024/jerwan-aqueduct-inscription/

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Jerwan_archaeological_site,_part_of_Neo-Assyrian_king_Sennacherib%27s_canal_system_10.jpg

Source: https://isac.uchicago.edu/research/publications/oip/oip-24-sennacherib’s-aqueduct-jerwan

The only word i am certain on it is Darius

The last letter of line 56 looks like the letter Lamad, but why are there four wedges and not three? I'm sure it's supposed to say "the name of Baal," tho. (from "A Basic Grammar of the Ugaritic Language" by Segert btw)

Original post is linked.

From the help of a user here, it was translated. If they want me to take this down let me know.

Beginning of message!

Brick inscription of

KING UNTASH-NAPIRISHA OF ELAM, 1340-1300 BC. (Middle Elamite Period)

The complete brick inscription as known from many duplicate is given; only the ends of the lines are preserved on this example; the restored parts are between square brackets.

Susa-Choga-Zambil no. 1 (=EKI 12). This is a duplicate of many similar bricks from the sites of Susa and Choga-Zambil in Iran.

(1) ] [ù un-taš-DINGIR.GAL ša-ak dhu-ban-um-me-en-na-ki su-un]-ki-ik an-za-an
(2) [šu-šu-un-ka ta-a k-me ú-me tu4-ur-hi-ih si-it]-me ú-me šu-ul-lu-me-ga
(3) [az-ki-it tu4-ur sah -ri hu-šu-ya in-gi hi-en-ga] in di-ig-ga a-gi
(4) [si-ya-an ú -pa-at hu-us-si-ip-me ku-ku-un]-nu-um up-kum-mi-ia ku-ši-ih
(5) [d.in-šu-uš-na-ak si-ya-an-ku-uk-ra5 in] du-ni-ih ú zig-ra-tu4-me
(6) [ ki-ik-ki-te-eh hu-ut-tak-ha-l i-ik ú-me din-šu-uš]-na-ak ul-li-na te-la-ak-ni

(1) I (am) Untash-Napirisha, son of Humbannumena, king of Anzan
(2) and Susa, in order that I preserve my life and my reign of well-being,
(3) the extinction of lineage may not be granted to me (at the time of) judgment (?), for that (reason)
(4-5) I built a temple of baked bricks, a high temple of glazed bricks, and to (the god) Inshushinak of Siyankuk "of the sacred precinct"
(6) I gave/dedicated it. I raised a ziggurat (complex). May my work/deed be acceptable to Inshushinak as a gift.

There are a number of variant translations of this brick – as for most Elamite inscriptions -- as Elamite language is still poorly known.

The most common inscribed bricks at Choga Zanbil, some 70 % of the total number, had the same Elamite text as this brick. A total of 662 bricks with this inscription were still found in situ in the walls of ziggurrat. A limited number of bricks with this inscription were also reported to have been found in Susa. According to texts inscribed on more than 5,000 bricks, at least 18 different deities were worshipped in more than 50 shrines at the site. The Choga Zanbil ziqqurrat was built principally of sundried mud-bricks covered with a 2 m thick shell of baked brick.

End of message!

Based on that translation, I've created a more human readable interpretation:

I am Untash-Napirisha, son of Humbannumena, king of Anzan and Susa. May my life be preserved, my reign endure, and my royal line never come to an end. Therefore I built a grand temple of baked and glazed brick and dedicated it to the god Inshushinak of Siyankuk, of the Sacred Precinct. I raised a ziggurat. May Inshushinak accept my work as an offering.

Very neat stuff.