Cuneiform writing: Did you mean...?

This is a classroom experiment. As Babylon grew, the language spoken on its streets changed. This remarkable tablet captures interaction between the age-old cuneiform writing for Babylonian Akkadian and the alphabetic Aramaic that ultimately...

Mesopotamia (from the Greek, meaning 'between two rivers') was an ancient region located in the eastern Mediterranean bounded in the northeast by the Zagros Mountains and in the southeast by the Arabian Plateau, corresponding to modern-day...

Carved stone cuneiform tablets in Sumerian. Left: Temple of Ningirsu, Girsu. Right: Temple of Nindara, Ur. Dating around 2141-2122 BCE.

The famed "Cuneiform of Arguishti," which celebrates his construction of the fortress of Erebuni in 782 BCE and his martial exploits in nearby regions. (Erebuni Historical and Archaeological Preserve, Yerevan, Armenia.)

The cuneiform inscriptions on this mud-brick mention the name of Ashurnasirpal II, the Assyrian king. From northern Mesopotamia, modern-day Iraq. Neo-Assyrian period, reign of Ashurnasirpal II, 883-859 BCE. The Sulaymaniyah Museum, Iraq.

A stone ring of a well curb with cuneiform inscriptions which mention the name of the king Shu-Sin of Ur. Ur III, 2030 BCE. From southern Mesopotamia, Iraq. (The Pergamon Museum).

The Sumerian language was spoken in southern Mesopotamia before the 2nd millennium BCE and was the first language to be written in the cuneiform script. It is an isolate language meaning we know of no other languages that relate to it ancestrally...

This table is made of clay and was found in Southern Iraq (3100-3000 BCE). Early writing was used as a way to keep track of the administration and it was only in later years its uses evolved. Early writing in Mesopotamia was made by pressing...

Copy of funerary stela with inscription, Vira-Gambarogno, Ticino. 5th century BC. The name of the deceased reads from bottom to top: teromui kalui. Find our more: The Oldest Writing in Switzerland.

Neo-Assyrian lexical list of names of stones on a clay tablet.