r/Assyriology

Using font or unicode?

I just recently installed the font "Noto Sans Cuneiform" into Open Office but no cuneiform appears if I type in any text. On the other hand I figured out that using Unicode directly to input signs could do the trick.

So I am a little confused now how to move on. Any suggestions?

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u/Bodhi2016 — 7 days ago
▲ 361 r/Assyriology+2 crossposts

Trying to do something funny

I stumbled upon a store selling these copper bracelets with custom engravings. The above image was one of the examples given and it gave me an idea.

I wanted to put together a phrase roughly meaning "Ea-nāṣir's Fine Copper Ingots". Using a combination of The Tablet Itself, comments from other redditors, and Wiktionary, I came up with the following:

𒍏 𒄖𒁀𒊑 𒁕𒄠𒆪𒁴 𒀜𒌅 𒂍𒀀𒈾𒍢𒅕

ᵘʳᵘᵈᵃ gu-ba-ri da-am#-qu2-tim at-tu-e₂-a-na-ṣi-ir
uruda gubārī damqūtim attû-Ea-nāṣir

I know this is a long shot because most people don't know the first thing about Akkadian or cuneiform but can anyone who knows better than me tell me if I'm way off base?

tl;dr Somebody wanna check my work so I don't fuck up an extremely niche joke?

u/ruscomaeth — 10 days ago

Question about Babylonian numbers in the spoken language

As a preface I first need to say that I'm going to write numbers in a particular way. I will clarify which base the number I write is (either decimal or sexagesimal) by using the symbols ||10 and ||60 at the end of each number. Also, specifically for numbers in base-60, each individual digit will be separated with a semicolon ; to avoid confusion, so a number such as 𒌋𒐕||60 is 11||10, and 𒌋;𒐕||60 is 601||10.

So the question is, because Akkadians changed the previous Sumerian system by making it positional based specifically with a base of 60, how would they have read and spoke those numbers (in either academical or spoken language) considering its also a Semitic language?

In English a small number like 3||10 is read with the dedicated word "three" because it's a basic integer and it's also just one digit. Would the same happen in spoken Akkadian with a number like 𒌍𒐖||60 by having a specific word for it (because it's a single digit), or would the spoken language override the writing influence by saying something like "thirty-two" literally being "thirty (times) ten (plus) two"?

And now let's say we want to go big. In English if we surpass the number 9||10 then we have to reset the digit back to 0 and add 1 at the beginning, thus obtaining "ten" which is written as 10||10. Similarly a number such as 72||10 would be read as "seventy-two" so "seventy (times) ten (plus) two" because we are now at two digits in the number, and the first digit (7) is multiplicative of the position its currently at (so 7 multiplies 10). Would the same happen also in Akkadian?

Specifically a number like 72||10 is written as 𒐕;𒌋𒐖||60, but because in the writing we have written the numbers as 1;12||60, would they have said something like "1 (times) sixty (plus) twelve", or would have they said something just like "seventy-two" and not consider the mathematical way of writing it?

I hope the question is not confusing. I was trying really hard to find information about it, but I couldn't find anything.

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u/lyatich — 8 days ago
▲ 105 r/Assyriology+1 crossposts

Eā-naṣir's words to Sit-Sin

After presenting the low quality copper ingots to Nanni's messenger, Sit-Sin, Eā-naṣir told him,

"Šumma teleqeā leqeā

šumma lā teleqeā atlaka"

which I have written in the photo.

This translates as,

"If you want to take them, take them; if you do not want to take them, go away!"

Written in Akkadian and quoted from Nanni's complaint tablet to Eā-naṣir.

u/Spare-Elderberry9956 — 14 days ago

A question about Mesopotamian history

A question for Assyriologists: when do you believe the history of Mesopotamia ends and Iraq begins after the fall of the Neo-Babylonian Empire or after the Islamic conquest?

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u/Inevitable-Ad4815 — 11 days ago