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Hymn to Babylon, missing for a millennium, has been discovered

phys.org

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Re: Hymn to Babylon, missing for a millennium, has been discovered

#5

Post by octopoc »

The Fall of Civilizations podcast has an interesting episode about Assyria. The cities in Mesopotamia were polytheistic and each city has its own deity. Apparently the way they viewed their deities was similar to how we view sports teams. There was an expectation that if you traveled to another city, you should sacrifice to its god. They viewed inter city warfare as the gods competing in heaven.

Re: Hymn to Babylon, missing for a millennium, has been discovered

#7

Post by Isamu »

freilanzer wrote: post #3

Fascinating. I should have studied Assyriology, few areas are as impressive imo. Maybe I still can, even at LMU. Although I don't believe it's possible alongside a regular job.

I found that the languages are hard to break into as an amateur, owning to the available literature. In contrast Egyptology has many popular treatments, you just have to watch out for the junk.

Re: Hymn to Babylon, missing for a millennium, has been discovered

#8

Post by idoubtit »

wglb wrote: post #2

Source article in the journal Iraq: https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S002108892...

Thank you. Without this source, it's hard to separate the facts from the bullshit in what was posted on phys.org.

I'm not a scholar, just an amateur, but two sentences were strikingly ridiculous.

"Legend has it that Noah hid them here from the floodwaters before boarding the ark." This article is supposed to be popular science about Babylonian archaeology, why mix it with a Hebrew myth derived from an older Mesopotamian myth? I guess it's just because Noah appeals to the ambient Christian culture. In other words, it's nonsense, but it sells.

"The information about the women of Babylon, their role as priestesses and the associated tasks, has also astonished experts, as no texts describing these things were previously known." There are many many texts about women and Naditu (sacred women) in Mesopotamia and in Babylon. According to the scholar article : "The passage has great importance for understanding the roles played by the various classes of priestesses: ugbakkātu, nadâtu, and qašdātu." Quite different.

Re: Hymn to Babylon, missing for a millennium, has been discovered

#9

Post by catlikesshrimp »

idoubtit wrote: post #8
wglb wrote: post #2

Source article in the journal Iraq: https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S002108892...

Thank you. Without this source, it's hard to separate the facts from the bullshit in what was posted on phys.org. I'm not a scholar, just an amateur, but two sentences were strikingly ridiculous. "Legend has it that Noah hid them here from the floodwaters before boarding the ark." This article is supposed to be popular science about Babylonian archaeology, why mix it with a Hebrew myth derived from an older Mesopotam…

They did cite the source at the bottom of the phys.org page (The source article and the link)

"More information: Anmar A. Fadhil et al, Literary Texts From The Sippar Library V: A Hymn In Praise Of Babylon And The Babylonians, Iraq (2025). DOI: 10.1017/irq.2024.23"

Re: Hymn to Babylon, missing for a millennium, has been discovered

#10

Post by zppln »

octopoc wrote: post #5

The Fall of Civilizations podcast has an interesting episode about Assyria. The cities in Mesopotamia were polytheistic and each city has its own deity. Apparently the way they viewed their deities was similar to how we view sports teams. There was an expectation that if you traveled to another city, you should sacrifice to its god. They viewed inter city warfare as the gods competing in heaven.

I can recommend this episode as well. If I don't mix things up they gave some very good examples of how everyday life wasn't that much different from what it is now. Amazing how stuff like that can be communicated through identations on pieces of clay.
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