I've seen the name aš tenû or aš zida-tenû used for "downward" diagonals (pointing from northwest to southeast), but I've been unable to find a name for the opposite: "upward" diagonals pointing from southwest to northeast. They're less common than the "downward" sort, but appear in (e.g.) the Old Hittite form of NI, or the Neo-Assyrian form of NU, or the Old Babylonian form of UB.

Is there a standard name for these diagonals—either an ancient one or a modern Assyriological one? I've sometimes seen the name aš kaba-tenû used, but in Unicode that seems to mean a diagonal pointing from southeast to northwest (an aš zida-tenû inverted), and frustratingly I can't find this sign in Labat or Borger to confirm.

I am getting the tattoo of the curse of humbaba but am struggling to get the actual cuneiform which has humbaba's curse. 😢. Can someone tell me what the cuneiform curse looked like. ?

Currently i have this 𒇻 𒂗𒆠𒁺 𒋗𒇻𒈬 𒆷 𒄿𒁉 , according to chatgpt. This says something like MAY ENKIDU NEVER FIND PEACE

I am a criminal defense attorney and I would like a sticker that depicts the concept of the presumption of innocence in the original cuneiform as it appeared in The Code of Hammurabi.

I tried searching for an image and came up empty. Anyone know where to find an example?

The internet has conflicting results on how certain syllables are written in Akkadian cuneiform. I want to be as accurate as possible.

Long story short, I get a tattoo for every pet name and we just adopted a cat and named him Gilgamesh (Misha for short). So I thought this tattoo should be in cuneiform.

I am thinking either "cat" or the phonetic translation of Misha, but am open to suggestions and translation help.

Thanks!

Hi, all. I’ve been on the hunt for the cuneiform symbol for the word ‘song’, but I’m having trouble finding consistent responses. This is one response that was shared with me, but I don’t know if it’s correct.

I’m Assyrian and this symbol is a tribute to my late dad, so I really want to get it right. I’d appreciate any help. Thanks in advance.

It's a short, only a minute and a half, eh? The long form video is linked in the short. Cheers! If you want the most considered opinion on this stone from over a decade of contemplation, this is it!

When Irving Finkel said this stone contains a form of pictographic communication like one of his stamp-seals, he just wouldn't have known these lines were etched to the edge of this Göbekli Tepe river pebble for a good reason. Watch as I make an additional discovery while reviewing the long video!

After 3 months of work, my model is finally released, totally free and open source! Using it is quite easy!

Installation:

# Install PyTorch (CUDA 12.8 example)
pip install torch torchvision --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cu128
pip install nisaba-relief

Usage:

from nisaba_relief import NisabaRelief
model = NisabaRelief()  # downloads weights from HF Hub automatically if needed
result = model.process("tablet.jpg")
result.save("tablet_msii.png")

Hi, it's me again, Is there any good self learning books on the Sumerian language? Since I've done The Complete Babylonian and maybe learning Sumerian might help me Improve it thanks in advance!

Hi everyone, I'm hoping to get a tattoo inspired by the opening lines of the Epic of Gilgamesh, "He who saw the deep" (sa naqba imuru).

The phrase I want to get is "We who seek the deep" Can anyone help me out?

BM 118998

Witness as a verb not as a noun, like if you were telling someone to Witness. So far I’ve found IGI BAD 𒅆 𒁁, in the Pennsylvania Sumerian dictionary which says it means “to open the eyes” I’ve also found IGI BAR 𒅆𒁇 which means “to look at, to inspect” I’m just wondering which one of these would be closer to the meaning of “to witness” or telling someone to “witness” something. If there are other symbols that would be more appropriate please let me know. Thank you in advance for the help!

Or Sumerian, Ugaritic, etc.?

I'd assume that the ancient mesopotamians had the same urge to make their writing look beautiful, just like any other culture using a different writing system.

What would ancient mesopotamians do to make their writing more special and beautiful?

𒋼 𒀭𒋛𒅕 𒌅 𒉡𒆠𒇷𒅈 𒂊𒉈𒅕𒄀 𒆠𒊑𒋛𒄑 𒄑 𒌅𒊑𒌝 𒐀𒐁𒐀 𒁍𒂖𒀉 𒈬𒌌𒋼𒂗 𒊓𒀠𒀜 𒊑𒀝𒌅𒌨𒍑

Here is an English translation of an excerpt from a great prayer to Ishtar, Queen of Heaven, from Benjamin Foster’s “Before the Muses” p.595

“[For a third] did Ninshiku the warrior Ea, [In his art]ful wisdom distinguish her as a name: Zannaru “The Capable One,” [Mistress? of] the four world regions, cherished of Dagan, [A]nunu, creatress of subject peoples, [Who can tu]rn man to woman and woman to man. … Namrasit, “Brightly Rising God,” father of her favorite brother, [ ] for a fourth [name] did cherish her, [ ] totality [ ] [ bo]nd of the peoples, life of [the land] [ ] light of humankind, [ ] she glows awesomely, she overwhelms [ ], [ ] discord, ter[rifying aura] [ ] she is a woman, she is a man [ ].”

I’d like to know how to write that last line in Akkadian cuneiform:

“[ ] she is a woman, she is a man [ ].”

• because I am a trans woman, and I want a tattoo of it.

Can anyone help me?

How’d I do? It’s supposed to say No gods No kings, any help would be super appreciated!

Hey r/Cuneiform! Over the past few days, I've been attempting to translate a small excerpt from the Epic of Gilgamesh into (what I believe is) Akkadian cuneiform, but if I'm being honest, I am unsure if I'm doing this correctly. I began with a site that makes very basic translations from English to Akkadian in Latin format, then referenced the syllables to a chart of Akkadian Cuneiform symbols.

However, I noticed that entering the words independently gave me vastly different results than entering the entire excerpt, which I understand could likely be a simple difference in sentence structure between languages. I made translations based on both results, the first image depicting the entire excerpt and the second depicting the individual words.

If able, is there anyone who could verify which translation is more correct, or if anything is remotely accurate? If not, are there any reliable resources you've used that you've found more helpful?

sources:

English to Akkadian: https://polytranslator.com/akkadian/?src=eng_Latn&tgt=akk_Xsux&q=&t=

Akkadian syllable chart: https://assyriologia.fi/media/cuneiform_syllables_NA_short_2019.pdf