Decipherment

Day 13: Cuneiform

Dr. Andrew M. Byrd

Review

Review: Concepts

  • What is the difference between pictographic, logographic, and phonographic systems?
  • What are three examples of pictographs in US culture?
  • What is the difference between a token & type?
  • What does frequency help us identify the type of writing system and its morphology?

Review: Behistun

  • Modern Bistin
    • Old Persian Bagastana, or ‘place of the gods’
  • Lies in a gorge about sixty-five miles to the west of Hamadan, Iran, along the ancient caravan route between Baghdad and Tehran.

Review: Behistun

Review: Behistun

  • description from https://lrc.la.utexas.edu/eieol/aveol/70
  • A trilingual inscription (Elamite, Akkadian, and Old Persian), narrating the defeat of ten rebel kings, is carved near the ancient settlement on the face of the northern cliff, about 225 feet above the ground.
  • Accompanying sculptural reliefs depict the same events with the Emperor Darius I (ca. 521 - 486 BC), flanked by two attendants, standing before a line of nine captives.

Review: Behistun

  • Darius’s right foot is planted firmly on the prostrate figure of Gaumata, the tenth rebel king, while the god Ahura Mazda looks on from above.

  • The Old Persian inscription consists of five columns surrounded by minor reliefs depicting the persons and events described in each column.

Review: Behistun

Review: Behistun

Review

Using the key, transcript the first two lines of the Old Persian Behistun Inscription. Do you remember what it meant?

Henry Rawlinson & the Riddle of Behistun

Henry Rawlinson

Check out this excellent article: https://inference-review.com/article/the-riddle-of-the-mountain#offcanvas-overlay-flip-slide

Henry Rawlinson & the Riddle of Behistun

  • British officer + scholar (1810–1895)
  • Set himself an ambitious (and arguably crazy) task: copy and decipher the Behistun inscriptions

Henry Rawlinson & the Riddle of Behistun

  • Rawlinson both gave us the most accurate copy of the inscription, and was instrumental in its decipherment
    • This led to the decipherment of three languages, all written in cuneiform

The Problem (c. 1800)

The Problem (c. 1800)

  • Unread for ~2,000 years
  • Carved high on a cliff (~300+ feet up)
  • Massive relief + three long inscriptions
  • Nobody had copied the signs accurately enough to work from

Why Behistun Was Special

  • Same message written three times (three languages):
    • Old Persian
    • Babylonian (Akkadian)
    • Elamite
  • The decipherment of Old Persian led to the decipherment of the other two languages, because we knew what they said

Rawlinson the Field (Cliff) Linguist

  • Climbed repeatedly to copy signs by hand
  • Used telescopes for independent copies
  • Paid local boys to make papier-mâché “squeezes” (casts) of signs
  • Physical danger was constant: ladders broke; falls would be fatal

The First Breakthrough: Proper Names

  • Proper names are often the easiest “anchors” in unknown scripts
  • Rawlinson had a crucial anchor: Darius
    • We know about Darius from Greek historians (Herodotus), who wrote about him extensively

“I am Darius, the Great King, the King of Kings.”

The Full Old Persian

 adam  Dârayavauš  xšâyathiya  vazraka  xšâyathiya  xšâyathiy ânâm  xšâyathiya  Pârsaiy  xšâyathiya  dahyûnâm  Višt âspahyâ  puça  Aršâmahyâ napâ  Haxâmanišiya  thâtiy
Dârayavauš  xšâyathiya  manâ  pitâ  Vištâspa  Vištâspahyâ  pitâ  Arš âma  Aršâmahyâ  pitâ  Ariyâramna  Ariyâramnahyâ  pitâ Cišpiš  Cišp âiš  pitâ  Haxâmaniš  thâtiy  Dârayavauš  xšâthiya  avahyarâ diy  vayam  Haxâmanišiyâ  thahyâmahy  hacâ  paruviyata  âmâtâ  ama hy hacâ  paruviyata \amâxam  taumâ  xšâyathiyâ  âha  th

for the full inscription, click here

The Full Old Persian

  1. I am Darius, the great king, king of kings, the king of Persia, the king of countries, the son of Hystaspes, the grandson of Arsames, the Achaemenid.

  2. King Darius says: My father is Hystaspes; the father of Hystaspes was Arsames; the father of Arsames was Ariaramnes; the father of Ariaramnes was Teispes; the father of Teispes was Achaemenes.

  3. King Darius says: That is why we are called Achaemenids; from antiquity we have been noble; from antiquity has our dynasty been royal.

Script ≠ Language (and Cuneiform ≠ Alphabet)

Two key points:

  1. Cuneiform is a script, used for multiple languages
  2. Cuneiform is not an alphabet (though can function as one)
    • signs often represent syllables
    • signs can have multiple values/meanings

From Copying to Decipherment (1840s–1850s)

  • 1846: Rawlinson publishes the Old Persian portion
  • 1850s: Babylonian and Elamite follow (with major contributions by others)
  • Rivalry + collaboration:
    • Rawlinson, Hincks, Oppert, Talbot (and others)
  • The process was messy—slow circulation of scholarship, partial data, disagreements

Proving Decipherment

  • Royal Asiatic Society organized a “sealed translation” test
  • Several scholars independently translated the same inscription (including Rawlinson)
  • Strong agreement = decipherment confirmed

Altering History

Altering History

  • Opened access to huge archives of Mesopotamian history/literature
  • Later readings (e.g., Gilgamesh) forced the West to rethink deep history
    • Gilgamesh written in Sumerian
  • Even now, many tablets remain unread or unpublished

Deciphering Babylonian

Babylon

The Walls of Babylon

The Walls of Babylon

Code of Hammurabi

  • The Law Code of Hammurabi is one of the oldest legal texts from ancient Mesopotamia
  • The artifact, a basalt stele, is believed to have been created between c. 1792–1750 BCE.
  • “Hammurabi” belongs to the sixth ruler of the Old Babylonian dynasty.

Code of Hammurabi

Code of Hammurabi

  • On the next last page is one of the laws from the code of Hammurabi.

  • Put away your laptop, phone, etc.

  • Work with your neighbor and try to identify the following:

Code of Hammurabi

  1. Any Similarities to Old Persian, both in style & exact charaters
  2. Linear Orientation
  3. Number of Tokens
  4. Number of Types
  5. Any Notable Character Repetitions

Code of Hammurabi

Eye for an Eye

Eye for an Eye

šum-ma a-wi-lum i-in DUMU a-wi-lim úḫ-tap-pí-id i-in-šu ú-ḫa-ap-pa-du

Eye for an Eye

šumma awīlum īn mār awīlim uḫtappid, īššu uḫappadū.

“If a man has blinded the eye of a member of the awīlum class, his eye will be blinded.”

Code of Hammurabi

Identify as many symbols as you can. Hint: begin with šum-ma!

šum-ma a-wi-lum ki-iš-pí e-li a-wi-lim id-di-ma la uk-ti-in-šu ša e-li-šu ki-iš-pu na-du-ú a-na dÍD i-il-la-ak dÍD i-ša-al-li-a-am-ma

šum-ma dÍD ik-ta-ša-sú mu-ub-bi-ir-šu É-sú i-tab-ba-al

šum-ma a-wi-lam šu-a-ti dÍD ú-te-eb-bi-ba-aš-šu-ma iš-ta-al-ma-am ša e-li-šu ki-iš-pí id-du-ú id-da-ak ša dÍD iš-li-a-am É mu-ub-bi-ri-šu i-tab-ba-al

Code of Hammurabi

If a man laid a charge of witchcraft against a man but has not convicted him, the one against whom the witchcraft charge was laid will go to the River; he will dive into the River, and

if the River has defeated him, his accuser will take away his estate;

if the River has cleared that man and he has come out alright, the one who laid the witchcraft charge against him will be executed; the one who dove into the River will take away the estate of his accuser.

Synopsis

  • Old Persian was a fairly basic syllabary

  • Babylonian / Akkadian not so much

  • Next time: how far back can we take writing? How exactly did cuneiform come to be?