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.

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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.

I really hope someone here can help me. I’ve been looking for this poem for years. I believe I heard it in a video with Irving Finkel, but I might be mistaken.

In my memory it was a love poem, written in first person, about the writer not wanting to work in the fields but would rather run away with their love. I remember it sticking with me that even some thousands of years ago, people still just wanted freedom and to be with the person they loved.

This is all I remember. I’ve tried searching through the years but got nowhere.

I really hope someone here can help me finally find it.

Thank you.

It's called Vigilant game

dalpu - watchful (adjective)

mēlultu - game (feminine noun)

me-lul-tum dal-pa-tum

Is it correct? And does the fact that it's a name affect the grammar?

Hello, I am an amateur musician who is currently interested in making myths and poem inspired music. I would like to find a way to vocalise some lines from the Baal Cycle and Ugaritic magic spells/recipes for my pieces.

I’ve looked into Mark Smith’s and Simon Parker’s translation and vocalisation but lines that I would like to include were not vocalised.

Is there any ways to just get a relatively accurate vocalisation? Or an easy way to just learn the pronunciation?

In respect to Sumerian dictionaries, has anyone got any opinions on the one written by M Lafayette ? I know Cohen has got one but That’s a tad pricey. Thanks.

I created a Reddit account just to ask this here, since I’ve been reading some really interesting things! The legend and figure of Gilgamesh mean a lot to me personally, so I’d like to get his name tattooed in cuneiform script, but I have a couple of questions. My understanding—and please correct me if I’m wrong—is that these two representations of his name are correct: [ 𒀭𒄑𒂆𒈦 ] and [ 𒀭𒄑𒉋𒂵𒈩 ]. However, I have a tote bag from the Ancient Orient Museum in Tokyo where his name is written differently (photo attached), and I was wondering if all three are correct. Also, I read on this subreddit that I shouldn't choose the Noto Sans font for the tattoo because it looks bad, haha, and that I should use Cuneify instead—I hope I used it correctly (photo attached). I’d really appreciate your help!

Hello! I'm working on a tattoo design using the first line of The Descent of Inanna, written in Old Babylonian Sumerian cuneiform.

At first I hoped to reproduce the handwriting of a specific scribe, so I started comparing the witness tablets for Q000343 looking for the best-preserved version of Line 1. The most complete one I found was CBS 12638 et al., - and while I understand it's historically important, I don't particularly like Chiera's hand drawings. Since this will be recreated in ink, I realized the style of the line drawing actually matters as much as the text itself.

So then I started focusing more on hand drawings*,* and was really drawn to Stephen Langdon's drawings in BE 31, particularly Ni 2279 and Ni 368.

And now for the last several hours, my LLM friend and I have been poring over those drawings and their transliterations, trying to identify matching occurrences of each character elsewhere in the text so I can reconstruct Line 1 in Langdon's style.

The line is:

an gal-ta ki gal-še₃ ĝeštu₂-ga-ni na-an-gub

𒀭 𒃲 𒋫 𒆠 𒃲 𒂠 𒄑 𒂵 𒉌 𒈾 𒀭 𒁺

I think it's going well, and I may only be missing three characters:

• 𒋫 (ta)
• 𒄑 (ĝeštu₂)
• 𒂵 (ga)

But before I start cleaning everything up for the final design, I'd love any suggestions...are there other Langdon plates that might contain these signs in a similar hand? They don't necessarily have to come from a witness of Q000343 - I'm really just trying to stay within the same general period and drawing style.

I'd also really appreciate if anyone notices a misidentified a sign or has a better example.

Yes this has become a much deeper rabbit hole than I expected, but it's really fascinating!!

Thanks for your help :)

Looking to put together a tattoo and I'd like to find the cuneiform that corresponds to Shiduri's speech to Gilgamesh about chilling out and enjoying the good life. Thanks!

my name is mae and i would prefer sumerian!!

Hiya, im working on a collection of cuneiform tablets from an anonymous collection. I have been given permission to share the 3D scans online so I have dumped all 23 of them into 4 files on this link. Have fun!

I was watching Alexander (2004), and saw some Old Persian cuneiform in the title credits. Was curious what it said so did my best to translate. I think the first slide says King of Kings, but I'm not quite sure what the second slide says and if I'm missing any words from the symbols I can't make out. Apologies for the god awful images, these were the best I could get at the time as the version I was watching was very blurry.

xa ša ā ....

xa ša ā ya 0a ī ya ... na (?) ā ma

King of Kings ?

xa ša ā ...

da ha ... ā ma