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andrew phillips @herfst.bsky.social · 19h

It may be broken and look unremarkable, but this is a rather unique cuneiform tablet, one of a handful written in the Akkadian language, but using the Ugaritic (consonantal) script, instead of logosyllabic signs. The tablets, from Ugarit, were produced around 1250 BCE, likely by the same scribe.

Fragment of clay tablet with 12 lines of Akkadian-language text written in consonantal (Ugaritic) script

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𒌆 𒊡𒂊𒉈𒄰 (túg gidim‐e‐ne‐kam) 𒂡 𒀭𒁀𒌑𒅗 (ezem ᵈba‐ú‐ka) 𒊷𒊷 (sa₆‐sa₆) 𒁮 𒌷𒅗𒄀𒈾 (dam uru‐ka‐gi‐na) 𒈗 (lugal) 𒉢𒁓𒆷𒆠𒅗𒆤 (lagašᵏⁱ‐ka‐ke₄) 𒂍𒊩𒋫 (é‐munus‐ta) 𒂊𒋫𒃻 (e‐ta‐ŋar) clothes of the ghosts (gidim) of the dead for the festival of Bau Sasa wife of Urukagina king of Lagaš from the queen’s household she provived

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andrew phillips @herfst.bsky.social · 20h

Styling the dead in Sumer In a tablet from 24th c. BCE Girsu, Sasa (Urukagina’s wife, king of Lagaš) lists clothes of dead royals—Gunetum, Meniŋarta, Ninmezi, Munussaga and Geme‐Bau (a young princess)—she’s sending for the festival of goddess Bau, perhaps to dress statues of the dead or their bodies

Clay tablet with Sumerian cuneiform text, obverse and reverse. Complete.

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Gaza Genocide Center @gazagenocidecenter.bsky.social · 22h

Satellite images leave no room for denial: Israel is committing genocide. 199,500 structures across Gaza damaged or destroyed since Sept 2023. Homes, schools, hospitals, places of worship, erased on record.

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Adam Bremer-McCollum @acbm.bsky.social · 22h

(in 12-syll. Syriac verse) ܟܕ ܛܥ̇ܝܢ ܡ̣ܢ ܡܠܝܠܘܬܐ ܡܝܘܬܬܐ ܟܠܗ̇ ܡܡܛܝܢ ܒܢ̈ܝܢܫܐ ܐ̄ܚܪܝܬ ܠܪܢܝܐ ܫܡܝܢܐ ܪܢܝܐ ܗ̇ܘ ܕܠܡܠܝܠܘܬܐ ܦܟܝܗ ܗ̄ܘ ܘܦܩܪ܀ /kaḏ ṭåʕēn men mliluṯå måyottå kull-åh mmaṭṭēn bnay-nåšå ḥråyaṯ l-renyå šmayyånå renyå haw d-la-mliluṯå p̄akkih-u wa-p̄qar/

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Antiquity Journal @antiquity.ac.uk · 07/10/2026

Despite the long tradition of Assyrian #archaeology, most research has focused on palaces, temples and other elite buildings #WaybackWednesday A new project takes a different approach, exploring the lives of everyday people in Assyrian cities. 🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy... 🏺 #Archaeology

Map of northern Iraq annotated with a dotted line outlining a triangle, in which are located five major Assyrian capitals.

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Ideas Roadshow @ideasroadshow.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Minimalistic fresco decorations in a #Roman villa beneath the Basilica of San Sebastiano, c. 235 AD. Join us on Exploring Art History: ideasroadshow.substack.com 🗃️ #arthistory #skystorians 🏺 #medievalsky #archaeology

Detail of Minimalistic fresco decorations in a Roman villa beneath the Basilica of San Sebastiano, c. 235 AD.

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Leipzig Akkadian Dictionary @akkadiandictionary.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Wie klingt Akkadisch? 👂 In der Reihe "Klang der alten Sprachen" der Akademienunion ist gerade unser Beitrag über die akkadische Sprache erschienen.

youtu.be

Wie klingt Keilschrift? – Klang der alten Sprachen: Akkadisch

YouTube video by Akademienunion

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Interpreting the Akkadian corpus attributed to Ṯabʾilu, the scribe in question, is not without difficulties, due to its paucity and fragmentary state. Despite these limits, it offers a window into the rich scribal culture of Ugarit (today Ras Shamra, Syria).

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The content of this tablet is equally interesting, as it is a short but close parallel of the Maqlû incantation invoking the ‘veiled bride’, attested in Mesopotamian tablets from later centuries, though rather than a spell against witchcraft, the text of the Ugarit tablet reads more like a hymn.

Excerpted line from clay tablet (o 6). Four rows follow below:
Text in Ugaritic script (𐎎𐎘𐎚𐎊𐎋𐎍𐎚𐎎𐎋𐎋𐎚𐎎)
Transliteration of Ugaritic script (mṯty klt mkktm[...])
Vocalised Akkadian text (mušīti kallatu mukkatimti)
English translation (of the night, veiled bride)

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Safaitic @safaitic.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

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The evolution of the South Semitic script is still poorly understood. An attempt to quantify the variation and model it on a genetic tree, based on weighted features that have diagnostic value (think morphological innovations in historical linguistic terms). www.academia.edu/177870340/Al...

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Peter Tarras @petertarras.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

For Spooktober, you might enjoy a recent publication by my colleague Ali Langroudi on Jesus and his bat in Arabic and Persian sources 🦇 ancientnarrative.com/article/view...

ancientnarrative.com

Jesus’ Bat and Echoing Narratives | Ancient Narrative

Ancient Narrative – Open access journal published by University of Groningen Press.

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The veiled bride (kallātu kuttumtu) also part of the incantation, is identified with Gula, goddess of medicine. This and a few other tablets from Assyria belonged to junior exorcist (āšipu ṣeḫru) Kiṣir-Nabû. Copied from older tablets, they add commentary that would help in the study of magic texts.

Line art of clay tablet with cuneiform text (reverse). The colophon (lines 56–59) indicates the text was copied from older tablets and is for the use of junior exorcist Kiṣir-Nabû.

Line art of clay tablet with cuneiform text (obverse). It includes explanatory commentary for selected passages of the Maqlû and Šurpu texts.

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(Mar)Chella Ward @luxmea.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

The Gods of the Night (ilū mušīti), who are invoked in the opening incantation of the Maqlû, a series of Akkadian anti-witchcraft texts, are identified in commentary tablets with three groups of stars Zappu, the Bristle—Pleiades Alû, the Bull of Heaven—Taurus Šitaddaru, the Shepherd of Anu—Orion

Clay tablet with the opening lines of the Maqlû series of texts (obverse). Partially fragmented

Line art of clay tablet with explanatory comment for selected passages of Maqlû. The names of three constellations are highlighted (Zappu, Alû, Šitaddaru)

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My biggest lesson of this week: how many people didn’t understand what Zionism meant! Of course Zionism is racism, like all ethnonationalism and all colonial occupation. 🤷🏼‍♀️

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Thankfully we do know what Zionism is, we have seen in practice for decades. It is violent Jewish supremacism, the brutal dispossession of the Palestinian population. A lot of people have an interest in keeping the definition of Zionism as a harmeless or meaningless term, but it is not

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The performative nonsense of naming the ideology that underlies such state? When Biden called himself a Zionist, that was an empty floating signifier and not his complete commitment to shielding Israel from all consequences? You won't stop any of it if you're constantly afraid of Zionists.

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So start by calling Zionism racism.

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𝐃𝐄𝐕𝐎𝐍 𝐈𝐍 𝐇𝐄𝐋𝐋™ @devononearth.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

And you will watch tens of thousands more die before you find a way to fight genocide and Zionism that doesn't require pissing off a lot of people.

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The 'Zionism is Racism' vote is rattling everybody I want to see rattled. Very impressed by the Green Party members on this one

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andrew phillips @herfst.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Zionism is using children as target practice. Zionism is raping hostages with dogs. Zionism is crushing mothers with tanks. Zionism a cult of death. Zionists deserve, at the very least, to be rejected, shamed and ridiculed.

Nina Zeelen @ninazeelen.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

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NATO Terror Rutte: "Europe was not able to take out Iran's nuclear capability. We will have the capabilities in 10 years — we should. It should be us taking care of the Houthis in the Red Sea, and not US. It is good that US did this. It was absolutely essential for US to take on Iran." (Sep 2026)

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andrew phillips @herfst.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

No, Eggers has not announced that, it was The Hollywood Reporter that made the dubious claim. They also had previously misreported that Werwulf would be in ‘old English’, so it is THR that keeps using the term incorrectly.

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andrew phillips @herfst.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Zionism is a racist, supremacist, destructive ideology.

Adam Bremer-McCollum @acbm.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

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A deluge of dots. Esp. in unvocalized texts, dots will help you wend your way amid Syriac grammatical and lexical options. Here are some common uses (from my grammar):

Two charts exhibiting the use of two different kinds of dots in Syriac, one for marking morphological distinctions and one for lexical.

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andrew phillips @herfst.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Sumerian incantation spell (21st c. BCE) ‘to carry a scorpion (𒄈 ŋír) in the hand’, using various epithets for them ‘black bull of Abzu’ gu₄ gegge abzu 𒄞 𒈪 𒍪𒀊 ‘lion of the dark house’ piriŋ é kukku₅‐ga 𒊊 𒂍 𒈪𒂵 ‘calf that lets saliva flow into prey’ níŋ šà‐gal‐bé‐šè amar a da‐a 𒃻 𒊮𒃲𒁉𒂠 𒀫 𒀀 𒁕𒀀

Clay tablet with cuneiform Sumerian text (obverse). Epithets for scorpion in lines 2-4.

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andrew phillips @herfst.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

In The profession of a Scribe is Superior (P. Sallier 1 7,4–5) a soldier who marches into Ḫꜣrw (in Syria-Palestine) is said to no longer know the difference between life and death because of the lions (mꜣj.w) and ḥtm.t

Hieratic text on papyri, the words Ḫꜣrw and ḥtm.t (written ḥsm.t here) are highlighted

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andrew phillips @herfst.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

There are few mentions of ḥtm.t (bears?) in later papyri. In Hori’s satyrical letter to another scribe, when describing the Levant he mentions there are more lions than ḥtm.t there (P Anastasi I 19,3–4), later (23,6–7) he compares him to Qedjerdi of Jsꜣrw, who was found in a tree by a ḥtm.t

Hieratic text on papyrus. The words Qedjerdi, Jsꜣrw (Isser/Asiru) and ḥtm.t are highlighted.

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Mondoweiss @mondoweiss.net · 30/09/2026

Israeli courts put on a show of indicting criminals who kill and maim Palestinians, but the final verdict — a presidential pardon and a hero's welcome — is already predetermined. mondoweiss.net/2026/09/the-...

mondoweiss.net

The Pardon of Elor Azaria: Killing, maiming, and culpability in the Israeli law

Israeli courts put on a show of indicting criminals who kill and maim Palestinians, but the final verdict — a presidential pardon and a hero’s welcome — is already predetermined.

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andrew phillips @herfst.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Shaimaa Alamssi of Eyes on Heritage: “The goal is to erase everything that connects us as Palestinians to Gaza, because our presence here is deeply intertwined with the history of this place. Future generations will feel the consequences of this loss.”

„Het doel is om alles uit te wissen wat ons als Palestijnen met Gaza verbindt, omdat onze aanwezigheid hier nauw verweven is met de geschiedenis van deze plek. De volgende generaties zullen de gevolgen van dit verlies voelen.”

Hand with black latex glove holding a piece of a destroyed manuscript in Arabic.

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Christine Johnston @archaeologuest.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

On ASOR and my Choice to Affectively Disengage Today, after twenty years as a member of @asor-research.bsky.social, I am choosing to let my membership lapse. I am choosing affective disengagement, meaning that I am withdrawing my participation and divesting from the organization. link 👇

PDF of the letter which can be accessed as a text file in the link in the reply

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andrew phillips @herfst.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

This 150-foot Star of David carved into the ground by Israeli tanks in Beit Hanoun is still visible aje.io/90ey8d maps.app.goo.gl/9S8uywx3729R...

Satellite image of Star of David and the numbers 7979 carved into the ground by Israeli tanks in Beit Hanoun, Gaza (Coordinates 31.543 N, 34.5454 E)

Satellite image of Star of David carved into the ground by Israeli tanks in Beit Hanoun, Gaza, 2026 (Coordinates 31.543 N, 34.5454 E)

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andrew phillips @herfst.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

See also Sjöberg’s article ’The Ebla List of Animals MEE 4, no. 116’

jstor.org

Client Challenge

andrew phillips @herfst.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Andrew R George's (2003) comment for this line, he however notes a semantic difference between nēšu ša qaqqari and nēš qaqqari

George, Andrew R. 2003. "The Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic: Introduction, Critical Edition and Cuneiform Texts", p. 896–897

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Lameen Souag @lameensouag.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Akkadian qaqqaru "ground", in turn, has probable cognates across Berber: e.g. Kabyle i-ɣəṛɣəṛ "floor", Tamasheq e-ɣărɣăr "regg, large flat area"

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Sapinuwa @sapinuwa.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Oh, that hurts again Years ago Turkish state removed this wonderful bronze tablet from the wonderful Anatolian Civilizations Museum and exiled it to the ridiculous İstAnBuL AiRpOrT mUseUm (yes there is such a place) and now it remains forgotten there.😭😭😭

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andrew phillips @herfst.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Yes, they were originally there, the text is carefully arranged around them. It is thought that the chains had clay seals at their ends, similar to wax seals attached to legal documents to authenticate them, though the chains may have been used to hang the tablet itself so that it could be displayed

Illustration of the reverse side of the Hattusa Bronze Tablet, two chains hang from it from circular perforations, each chain has a clay seal attached to it.

Detail of Hattusa bronze tablet, the lines of text are arranged around the circular perforation

Title deed from 1452 with six pendant seals.

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andrew phillips @herfst.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Cuneiform Hittite, like Akkadian, also made full use of Sumerograms, determinatives and phonetic syllables, for example Kurunta’s title

Detail of Hittite cuneiform on bronze tablet. The translation reads "Kurunta, king in the land (of) Tarhuntašša"

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The National @scotnational.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

'Catastrophic' new images have exposed the devastating scale of destruction inflicted on Gaza by Israel's genocide @lucyajackson.bsky.social reports👇

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andrew phillips @herfst.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Chameleon, from the Greek χαμαί ‘on the earth’ and λέων ‘lion’, was calqued from Akkadian nēš(u ša) qaqqari lit. ‘lion of the ground’, a figure attested in the Epic of Gilgamesh (line 314 ᴜʀ.ᴍᴀʜ šá qaq‐qa‐ri). The term is paralleled in lexical tablets from Ebla (ca. 2300 BCE) as na‐iš qar‐qá‐rí‐m.

Neo-Assyrian cuneiform clay tablet with a portion of the Epic of Gilgamesh, heavily fragmented.

Line art of cuneiform tablet. The term ‘lion of the ground’ is highlighted.

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Yun Xie @yunxie.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Finally, my article on Java banknotes and 4 anti-counterfeiting scripts, especially Chinese font, has been published. "Printing Capital: Knowledge Networks, Typographic Innovation, and the Languages of Colonialism in the Dutch East Indies" in Philology in Europe before and after 1800 (2026).

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HAM: Calligraphy (Bot) @hamcalligraphy.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

One of Seven Sheets of Paper inscribed with Religious Texts, Poems, Charms [mounted on a board]; "Ippen fuda" www.harvardartmuseums.org/collectio…

Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Partial and promised gift of Walter C. Sedgwick in memory of Ellery Sedgwick Sr. and Ellery Sedgwick Jr.

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Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ @olivia.science · 26/09/2026

Please sign if you can! OPEN LETTER: PAUSE THE NATIONAL ROLLOUT OF AI-MEDIATED TUTORING IN ENGLAND'S SCHOOLS > Children should not be exposed to a technology whose future, effectiveness, and safety we cannot predict, and for which the evidence is mostly negative.

docs.google.com

OPEN LETTER: PAUSE THE NATIONAL ROLLOUT OF AI-MEDIATED TUTORING IN ENGLAND'S SCHOOLS

OPEN LETTER To the Rt Hon Andy Burnham MP, Prime Minister, and the Rt Hon Lucy Powell MP, Secretary of State for Education The Department for Education has announced plans to develop, what it calls, “...

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andrew phillips @herfst.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

This incantation appears in a number of magical texts, so the missing part can be restored where the previous tablet breaks off

Neo-Assyrian cuneiform text on clay tablet

Transliteration
[...] u ᵈᴀᴍᴀʀ.ᴜᴛᴜ lip·ti u ta·ḫi·zi li·ši·ir