iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I never imagined being quoted in the same article with Taylor Swift, but then she released her song 'Babylon' and here we are! www.today.com/popculture/m...

today.com

Taylor Swift’s ‘Babylon,’ Explained by 2 History Professors

The song is about not knowing what you had until it’s gone.

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Antiquity Journal @antiquity.ac.uk · 22/09/2026

NEW Nimrud was a major Assyrian capital, but most research there has focused on its royal architecture, limiting our understanding of everyday life in the empire. A new project explores Nimrud's Lower Town, shedding light on the city's ordinary people. 🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy... 🏺 #Archaeology

Aerial view of a desert landscape containing archaeological remains, most notably a large, rectilinear wall. Locations of features such as the acropolis are annotated.

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Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

The ancient letters are often very relatable! The one quoted here is closer to 3,800 years old and the picture is wrong. The real thing looks like this. It's 6.7 x 4.5 x 2.3 cm and is in the Yale Babylonian Collection. The photo is by Klaus Wagensonner www.ebl.lmu.de/library/YBC....

A photograph of the front of a rectangular ancient clay tablet, YBC 5471, bearing a letter written in cuneiform script. It was written during the Old Babylonian period which lasted from 1900-1595 BCE in ancient Mesopotamia (modern Iraq).

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Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

That's fantastic, Selena, and well deserved! Congratulations!!!

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Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

Spotted in the wild! From a Sunday NY Times article about AI podcaster Dwarkesh Patel--a photo of his bookshelf. Not at all where I would have expected to see my book, Weavers, Scribes, and Kings. It is about as far from AI as a book could possibly be! #Mesopotamia www.nytimes.com/2026/04/26/b...

Photo of a bookshelf containing non-fiction books from a NY Times article

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Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

I was lucky enough to be interviewed on the first episode of this new podcast from the Financial Times, called The Story of Money. We had a really interesting conversation. It's also on Spotify etc. @financialtimes.com #mesopotamia #cuneiform #debt www.youtube.com/watch?v=L09n...

youtube.com

How ancient Mesopotamians solved runaway debt | The Story of Money

YouTube video by The Story of Money Podcast | Financial Times

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Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

Oh yes, that's fine. I'm glad it was helpful to you! Thank you for checking.

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Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

I'm sorry--I don't understand this question. Could you please explain? What is your project and what query letters will you be writing?

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Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

I'm so sorry to hear this sad news. My thoughts are with you and your family.

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Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

At 4,500 years old, this the oldest bridge in the world and it's in S. Mesopotamia. This is an excellent short documentary done by the excavators Ebru Toran and Sébastien Rey, who show that it was more than a bridge, it was a sophisticated water control system. www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWSl...

youtube.com

The oldest bridge in the world | Curators' Corner S10 Ep12

YouTube video by The British Museum

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Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

Thank you so much! I'm glad you're enjoying the book!

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Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

This article confirms that, 3,300 years ago, Cornish tin from the UK was traded all the way to the Mediterranean! This is very exciting news (and combines two of my absolute favorite things: hiking in Cornwall and researching Bronze Age trade and diplomacy!)

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Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · 03/01/2026

This letter (ARM 5 20 = LAPO 16 256) was written c. 3,800 years ago. This translated excerpt is by Jack M. Sasson. The full letter can be found in Sasson's 2015 book 'From the Mari Archives,' p. 313. See also my discussion of the letter in my 2010 book 'Brotherhood of Kings' pp. 76-80.

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Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · 03/01/2026

A cuneiform letter between two kings: I must say (this) now and vent my feelings....When you placed a request with me for two horses, I indeed had them conveyed to you. Yet you... sent me 20 pounds of tin.... The value of such horses is 10 pounds of silver. But you sent me just 20 pounds of tin!

Akkadian cylinder seal showing a man riding an equid, among other figures. From Collon, 1987, First Impressions, image 685.

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Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

Thanks, Moudhy, that's so kind of you! Your book is a gem as well, and congratulations on its success!!

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Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · 27/11/2025

I had fun doing this podcast episode for The Ancients about Old Babylonian letters! We discussed messengers, scribes, and even a certain copper trader of dubious repute! #eanasir #cuneiform #Mesopotamia podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

podcasts.apple.com

The World's Oldest Letters

Podcast Episode · The Ancients · 11/27/2025 · 55m

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Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · 18/11/2025

This is fascinating! Semiyarka has been found to be an ancient city in Kazakhstan, specializing in production of tin-bronze, and contemporary with the Late Bronze Age kingdoms (Kassite Babylonia, Mittani, Hatti, New Kingdom Egypt, Mycenaean Greece, etc) in the Middle East and Mediterranean.

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Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · 09/11/2025

Wow, your daughter is probably my youngest reader! Please give her my best wishes!

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Reposted by Amanda Hills Podany

Oxford Academic @academic.oup.com · 09/09/2025

Your favorites, now available in paperback. From sweeping histories that span continents to deep dives into our digital lives, this season’s paperback releases offer something for every kind of reader. US: oxford.ly/4m05rMw UK: oxford.ly/4lW1eJL

New in Paperback this Autumn with a variety of covers from Oxford University Press

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Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · 26/08/2025

Evidence for what seems to be an engineered flood in Mesopotamia c. 2350 BCE, which "illustrates how critical infrastructure for irrigation and transportation could be deliberately exploited to exacerbate the environmental and economic impacts of warfare." #Mesopotamia @paulczimmerman.bsky.social

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Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · 16/08/2025

Proverb: etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcs..., number 3.6. Image: The Met 32.39.3, Old Babylonian plaque of two bull men flanking a tree: www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...

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Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · 16/08/2025

Almost 4,000 years before Beckett, two men were already waiting for Godot: '"I will go today" is what a herdsman says; "I will go tomorrow" is what a shepherd-boy says. "I will go" is "I will go", and the time passes.' (Sumerian proverb) #Mesopotamia #cuneiform #waitingforgodot, links in comment

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Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · 16/08/2025

Almost 4,000 years before Beckett, two men were already been waiting for Godot: '"I will go today" is what a herdsman says; "I will go tomorrow" is what a shepherd-boy says. "I will go" is "I will go", and the time passes.' (Sumerian proverb) #Mesopotamia #cuneiform #Godot, links in comment

Old Babylonian terra cotta plaque showing two divine male figures next to a tree

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Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · 14/08/2025

Translation of this and other Sumerian proverbs: etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcs...

etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk

The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature

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Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · 14/08/2025

"The dog understands: 'Take it!' It does not understand: 'Put it down!'" True 3,900 years ago when a young Mesopotamian scribe copied the proverb onto a round school tablet; still true today! #cuneiform #Mesopotamia #dogs Tablet: BM U.17207.77, CDLI P346305; sculpture: Louvre AO 4349, CDLI P386356

Circular clay tablet with three lines of cuneiform text across the middle. Modern ID in ink at the bottom reads UET 6/225

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Oxford Academic @academic.oup.com · 25/07/2025

What was life like for kings, priestesses, merchants, brickmakers, musicians, and weavers in the ancient Near East? Discover their stories through the voices of real people who lived thousands of years ago. Now in paperback: global.oup.com/academic/pro...

Weavers, Scribes, and Kings. Oxford University Press

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Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · 22/07/2025

One of the earliest cities in southern Mesopotamia proves to have been home to a huge network of canals for about 5,000 years (though not all the canals were in use at the same time). This fascinating research was done by Jaafar Jotheri and colleagues. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

cambridge.org

Identifying the preserved network of irrigation canals in the Eridu region, southern Mesopotamia | Antiquity | Cambridge Core

Identifying the preserved network of irrigation canals in the Eridu region, southern Mesopotamia - Volume 99 Issue 405

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Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · 16/06/2025

Thanks! I hope so! Mesopotamian history really is fascinating!

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Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · 22/04/2025

Thanks for recommending my book! And I agree about @moudhy.bsky.social 's as well. No space aliens construct anything in either!

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Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · 17/03/2025

These new documents from Girsu (written on clay, of course, not stone as the URL suggests) sound fascinating! The scribes "note absolutely everything down. If a sheep dies at the very edge of the empire, it will be noted. They are obsessed with bureaucracy.” www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

theguardian.com

‘Spreadsheets of empire’: red tape goes back 4,000 years, say scientists after Iraq finds

Ancient Mesopotamian stone tablets show extraordinary detail and reach of government in cradle of world civilisations

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Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · 17/03/2025

Thanks! For Mesopotamian mathematics, Mathematics in Ancient Iraq by @eleanorrobson.bsky.social is a fabulous resource: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

press.princeton.edu

Mathematics in Ancient Iraq

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Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · 15/03/2025

For more details about the mercurial Rishiya, see Ziegler, N. 2011. “Music, the Work of Professionals” in Oxford Handbook of Cuneiform Culture, K. Radner and E. Robson, eds., 290-295. The image I posted is not him, but another male musician of the same era.

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Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · 15/03/2025

Rishiya, the chief musician at Mari c. 1760s BCE, served under King Yasmah-Addu. Surprisingly, he was retained by Y-A's antagonist and successor, Zimri-Lim, even though Rishiya had neglected his allocated farmland, which had been taken away from him. He must have been a terrific musician!

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Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · 28/02/2025

Research by my daughter @podanymd.bsky.social just published in @jama.com Network Open. Important work (and proud mom moment!)

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Prof Christina Pagel @chrischirp.bsky.social · 20/02/2025

“The possible existence of a second, and most likely intact, tomb of Thutmose II is an astonishing possibility.” where's Indiana Jones when you need him? www.theguardian.com/world/2025/f...

theguardian.com

Archaeologists discover first pharaoh’s tomb in Egypt in more than a century

Uncovering tomb of Thutmose II hailed as most significant discovery since Tutankhamun in 1922

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Nina Willburger @drnwillburger.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

New discovery: First discovery of a royal tomb since King Tutankhamun's was found over a century ago. A joint Egyptian-British archaeological team has uncovered the tomb of King Thutmose II, the last missing royal tomb of the 18th Dynasty. english.ahram.org.eg/News/540638.... 🏺 AncientEgyptBluesky

A photo of the discovery: A chamber with a lot of debris.

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Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · 16/02/2025

Sunrise at the Temple of Bel in Palmyra was one of the most beautiful sights I've ever experienced; golden Roman columns glowing against the deep blue sky, serene and seemingly timeless. This new report on the damage to Palmyra in recent years is devastating. phys.org/news/2025-02...

phys.org

Report documents devastation of ancient city of Palmyra, a World Heritage Site, after the fall of the Assad regime

Palmyra is one of the most famous sites in Syria for its extraordinary heritage and archaeological remains. Inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1980, the city saw much of its heritage destroyed du...

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Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · 15/02/2025

I suspect Google's AI was the source of the crossword clue, though I have no idea where the AI summary got this!

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Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · 15/02/2025

Interesting! Do we have any idea where this prisoner came from?

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Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · 15/02/2025

But the absolute dates of tablets from Emar are hard to determine and the significance of the two styles of writing is debated by scholars. So perhaps it might turn out that the twin boys did survive and learn to be scribes and novice diviners. I hope so! (But names repeated so we can't really know)

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Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · 15/02/2025

...in 2009 Cohen retracted this conclusion because these tablets are in an earlier style than those written when the boys were sold (as toddlers): Cohen, Y. The Scribes and Scholars of the City of Emar in the Late Bronze Age, 2009. So I didn’t include the “happy end” in the account in my book.

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Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · 15/02/2025

More info about the twins: their was discussed by Y. Cohen. In 2005 he thought that they went to scribal school because their names appeared (on tablets Emar 541 A and 541 D) as “novice diviners”: Cohen, Y. "Feet of Clay at Emar: A Happy End?." Orientalia 74, no. 2 (2005): 165-170. But, see next...

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Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · 15/02/2025

I have a feeling that the crossword creator is less knowledgeable about our field than we are. I think they just got it wrong!

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Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

Thanks so much, Megan @digital-hammurabi.bsky.social! I really enjoyed our conversation! www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0dX...

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Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · 10/02/2025

From long ago in my non-Assyriological past: this photo showed up in the NY Times today, in an article about the excellent new Bangles biography, 'Eternal Flame'! (We were Those Girls then, playing at the Troubadour. I'm in the pink shirt.) www.nytimes.com/2025/02/10/a... Now, back to cuneiform!

Photo shows the pre-Bangles group, Those Girls, performing on stage in 1980 in front of an audience at the Troubadour in Los Angeles. From left: Vicki Peterson (guitar), Amanda Hills (bass), Debbi Peterson (drums).

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