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Read cuneiform critically

If there’s one thing I think people should know about cuneiform texts, it’s that every translation has inherent bias. This is true in all languages, of course; a while ago, I shared a particularly striking example in Ancient Greek, as pointed out by Emily Wilson. That said, in Ancient Greek as in most other languages, the text is well enough understood that bias resides mainly in connotations: in other words, choosing to translate στόμα as “lips” rather than “mouth”, or οὐλομένη as “sluttish” rather than “accursed”.

This is not the case for cuneiform languages (i.e. languages written using the cuneiform script, the big three being Sumerian, Akkadian and Hittite). Though our understanding of these languages is good, and growing with each year, we still have large gaps in our knowledge - large enough that the interpretation of a text, not just its connotations but its actual meaning, can vary from translator to translator. Here are a few examples to bring my point home:

Enmerkara and Ensukukešdana, l. 270 (Sumerian)

Original text: um-ma saĝ-bur-ru maš-maš-e RA-ni enim-ma-ni mu-ni-in-sag₃ Translation by Claus Wilcke: “Old Woman” Saĝburu cast her word in the assembly concerning this sorcerer here Translation by Pascal Attinger: the old woman Saĝburu struck the exorcist with her fist, with her (magical) speech (original French: la vieille femme Saĝburu frappa l’exorciste de son poing, de sa parole (magique)) Translation by me: the old woman Saĝburu, after she struck him, struck her word against the exorcist

While the gist of the text is clear - Saĝburu is prevailing over a man who uses magic - the details vary wildly. Is there or is there not an assembly? Is Saĝburu physically assaulting the man? Is he an exorcist or a sorcerer - and is there really a difference? These are all issues that influence our in-depth understanding of the passage.

The Siege of Uršu, rev. l. 17-18 (Akkadian)

Original text: kulieššar MU.IM.MA Tutḫaliya īpuš inanna atta tēpuš kula’ūtam Translation by Gary Beckman: last year Tutḫaliya engaged in hesitation - now you have engaged in hesitation Translation by Amir Gilan: last year Tutḫaliya behaved like a sissy, now you are behaving like a faggot (original German: letztes Jahr hat sich Tutḫaliya wie eine Memme benommen, jetzt benimmst du dich wie eine Schwuchtel) Translation by me: last year Tutḫaliya acted kulieššar, now you have acted like a kulu’u

Again, the context is clear: soldiers are being criticised for their unwarriorlike behaviour. As for what that behaviour is, however, Beckman and Gilan’s interpretations differ wildly and give a very different impression to the reader. Gilan’s in particular raises a lot of questions about how queer people were perceived in the Ancient Near East (and no, I’m not comfortable with his use of slurs either).

Muršili’s Aphasia, l. 12 (Hittite)

Original text: KAxU-iššamukan tapūša pait Translation by Theo van den Hout: my mouth ceased to function Translation by Zsolt Simon: my mouth went to the side (original German: meine Mund ging zur Seite)

This is not so much a case of misunderstood words but of debated meaning. Some researchers have taken the expression literally, meaning that the king’s mouth became lopsided due to a stroke; others have taken it figuratively, meaning that it stopped working like it should, possibly due to an anxiety attack. Both interpretations are obviously important for the history of medicine.

These translations variants can arise due to fragmentary texts, signs with multiple readings, words with debated definitions, or expressions with unclear meanings, but the bottom line is always the same: no interpretation can be taken for granted. This is one of my favourite things about studying Mesopotamia - that so much is still open to debate - but it’s also one of the things people need to be most careful of when reading translations. I’ve seen way too many people make this mistake, from history enthusiasts, to Classicists writing a paper on mythological parallels, to actual Mesopotamia students, which is why I think it’s worth drawing attention to.

Question everything. Everything. Find translations with footnotes, and read them; read translations of the same text by different scholars; and if you have studied the language of the text in question, for Nabû’s sake, please translate it yourself instead of assuming the translator is correct. In fact, never assume anything is correct - even if it’s stated by the most influential researcher in the field.

Question. Everything.

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STOP! are you operating on an arbitrary set of terms and rules known only to you? have you created an ultimatum or specific if/then scenario for someone else without communicating it to them? have you considered making a decision and calculated all the consequences and potential reactions to those consequences and consequences for those reactions before you actually made the decision? it may be time to say some words out loud to another person!

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If you've ever been disappointed by dragonfruit, especially if you felt like it tasted like nothing, then I'm like 90% sure you had unripe dragonfruit, which tastes like nothing. There's a small window of time where it tastes amazing. You must have the patience of a hunter. Do not strike until your prey is at its most delicious

#ref #reference #food #save #I can use this

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"how can you like this objectively bad thing!" because i have bad taste. move on.

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You wouldn’t last an hour in the asylum where they raised me

#funny #god I feel bad for that poor Peter Pan actor #like he was cute but people on here took it way too far. like stalking level iirc #also lmao the infinite chocolate thing #I remember staring at it trying to figure out how the looping worked #because I KNEW they were adding the bit back in but I couldn’t figure out where/when #it was funny though #I don’t think i was here for listen up cum slut but I remember getting a hilarious recap

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"he would not fucking say that" but its about a character being a leftist. he would not fucking believe that