Thank you for all your advice on my pervious post. The cuneiform will be embroidered on the scroll with gold and silver thread. She is part of a triptych representating "time, space, and infinity." But i like the idea of nisaba's name on the "space scroll."

I understand spacing and direction of the cuneiform is very important. Whilst I doubt many who see my art will know how to read cuneiform, I want to be as "correct" as i can. Please understand, i use my art to encourage people to learn about art history. I hope folks who see this will want to learn more about cuneiform. This subreddit inspired me to add the cuneiform in the 1st place! Anyways...

There are only two symbols i need to worry about this time. The "star" symbol and her name. However, i am worried about how they should be turned/ placed on the scroll. They should be placed like the figure is reading them, not the viewer.

I figured i wouldnt make the same mistake I did before and ask 1st! This subreddit is one of my favorites. I am in awe of y'all.

Hi! 

Could anyone familiar with Demotic help decipher the inscriptions on these ushabtis? I believe they all contain the same personal name, possibly with some additional signs.

I believe that the previously suggested reading, “Pa-di-Hemet,” is incorrect.

Possible readings include Pa-di-Mehit, Pa-sher-Mehit, Pa-di-Isis, Pa-di-Amun, or Nes-Khonsu, but none is confirmed.

Any thoughts or alternative readings would be greatly appreciated!

Many thanks!

I am so sorry I forgot to post the image before. Im a dolt. I guess I cant do laundry and post on reddit at the same time.

Thank you to this subreddit for the reference! Part of the name is missing to look like it is still being unrolled.

Part of a triptych im working on. She is "time," with two other figures for "space" and "infinity." I wasnt sure about adding more cuneiform to the others, but if any one has suggestions for the "space" figure, that would be nice. Maybe "heavens" or "star," etc. I figure the ancients didnt have the same concept of space as we have now. Any more simple cuneiform would be welcomed! I dont want it to overwhelm the other figures.

1st time using textiles for my art. The gold lace ribbon is the "frames" of the triptych. Also new to embroidery, but i think it works with my style. Will be in an invisible frame. Watercolor and color pencil. Image isnt done. I think she needs deeper black details.

“A hymn to Nisaba

This hymn describes the great goddess Nisaba as patron deity of scribes and
accountants. She carries a lapis lazuli tablet, the colour of the night sky, from
which she reads the future through celestial omens.”

“She carries a lapis lazuli tablet, the colour of the night sky” why is the tablet of this particular colour and why does a scribe goddess of corn read omens out of the night sky?

Can someone please explain how the signs evolved to wedges with triangular heads and tails ("spike triangles")?

Like, how/why did the sides of triangles turned into individual wedges? And why were they lines at the begining?

(Do not mind the red laser dot, LOL.)

The Hymn to the Sun poem was recently recreated by Ai, using an archive of cunieform tablet fragments. Ai pieced together phrases from various tablets it identified as being copies of the same poem, giving us a 3000 year old work. I turned the poem into lyrics and made this video.

EDIT: Trimmed down and added screenshots — the images probably explain the idea better anyway.

I’m curious whether anyone would be interested in an interlinear‑building tool that supports Akkadian cuneiform. The core was built as a Greek learning and translation tool that builds an interlinear, and I’ve been experimenting with using it for Akkadian. Hosting it online is not free, so I’m looking to release it as an open‑source project so anyone can use it for free.

For a demo, I mocked up the first two sentences of the Code of Hammurab{p}i using Harper’s 1904 translation, the ORACC sign list, Unicode, and the Noto Sans Cuneiform font. The signs aren’t perfectly aligned with the original monumental script, but they’re close. As with Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, etc., you have to normalize the script — you can’t support every historical sign variant, so you standardize around a print‑style font. I am open to suggestions here. Standardized Neo-Assyrian style seems to be the best option.

So far, it’s been interesting to play with and has piqued my curiosity again. You can import transliterations (be-lum ša a-lim) or normalized transcription (bēlum ša ālim) and generate the text with the signs, a mechanical translation, interlinear with lemma, parse tag, and gloss. To create a translation, you set word order, add/remove words as needed, add your gloss, and generate your final translation. The software supports the process and helps learners interact with the text.

Screenshots

You can click on the images below to see the details. I did not include any of the lexicon screenshots, character management, text management, ending charts, etc., as it is a lot of detail that I think someone can imagine.

Reader (column view)

You can have it list per line or per clause. You can turn the lemma, parse tag, and gloss off/on as needed.

Reader (Line View)

A sandbox sample based on samples from a grammar. This is the interlinear builder where you would enter your translation. The next tab, "My translation" (poorly named), is where you set up your word order algorithm of sorts; then the "final" tab is purely your translation. The idea is that you set up the word order, punctuation, add words, or mark them as untranslated. Then you can regen the translation again and again as you continue to work on it. You can export this in a custom-formatted text file or to Word.

Test & Quizes

Self-testing is an important part of the learning process. I have a training feature that turns the text into tests and flashcard drills. It uses a distance equation and the lexicon glosses to score your translation. And uses the parse tag to score your parsing. There is also a flashcard drill: know it, don't know it that you can execute for any line of text.

Sentence Diagram/Outline

You can generate a sentence diagram of sorts and an outline. These are logic-based algorithms generated in real-time. The setup is based on Koine Greek, so I need to add support for Akkadian. Note that here, it is picking up anaku as a verb and not as a pronoun. That's due to the parsing tag differences between Akkadian and Greek. I'll fix it, but thought it was worth giving you an idea of what will be able to do.

EDIT/UPDATE: Added a few more screenshots to demonstrate enabling different parts of the interlinear. Here, I am only showing the transliteration. In the next pic, I am showing the cuneiform, not per line but per clause. There is a checkbox on the right to control how it is displayed, but it is hard to show in a screenshot. You can export whatever you display to a Word doc or in a custom text format I created for the tool.

The reader with everything turned on and one word selected and the lexicon entry displayed.

I'm a new fan of mesopotamian stuff and I stumbled across this game, so I wonder if the cuneiform actually means anything

Hello! I'm looking for a sumerian-cuneiform translation for a tattoo. I have a quote I found here: https://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/section6/tr6125.htm#para5

The quote is "Although the number of unhappy days is endless (?), yet life is better than death" or "ud nu-dug3-ga cid-bi [nu]-til3

17/nam\-til3 nam-uc2-a dirig X" in composite (according to the link above).

My problem is that I cannot find a cuneiform source for the quote. If anyone can help me I'd greatly appreciate it!

I wrote in akkadian a Part of the tablet

Hello everyone, I have a small question:

Which are the specific cuneiform signs used to say "female servant of Nanaya" on this cylinder seal (Source: British Museum W_1908-0411-36)?

My rough guess based on the provided inscription translation "geme na-na-a-a" would be

𒊩𒆳 𒀭𒈾𒈾𒀀,

but the actual inscription in the left column looks a bit different.

I guess I am also missing some case-dependent noun ending.

Hi there! I have a silly Ea Nasir themed craft idea in mind and I'd like to be able to label something in cuneiform. I'd like it to say "Copper" but would also accept "copper ingot" or "high quality copper" or "pure copper" - something to that effect. If anyone can please help me express any of these ideas in cuneiform you'll have my gratitude 🙏

(I already posted a line but I posted the wrong one, it was supposed to be this one).

'Only the gods live forever with Shamash'

Context of the saying is that Gilgamesh wanted Enkidu to tough up, so by saying this he meant: 'Gods don't die but we humans do, so don't be afraid of death'.

This is the 141 line from the 4th column of the Yale tablet with codename 'YBC 2178', if I'm correct.

𒀞 • (me₃ /me/) battle

The inside has the cuneiform 𒂟 • 1. (erin₂ /erin/) troops, workers, work-gang, conscripts. 2. (erin₂ /erin/) to yoke, harness. But what do scholars know or believe might be the meaning of the other part, that is, reading from left to right, the chevron, the square, and the wedge?

It does not seem that this is a particularly productive shape. I only see one other cuneiform that uses it: 𒀟.

1- Is the name Daniel was called by the Babylonians Belteshazzar in Daniel 1:7, Daniel 4:9, Daniel 4:18, Daniel 5:12 a real name? Are there many names in Akkadian that have “Belte” in them in reference to Daniel 1:7? Is “Belte” for both male and female? The name Belteshazzar may have been translated incorrectly in Daniel 1:7, Daniel 4:9, Daniel 4:18, Daniel 5:12 where the name that the Babylonian’s called Daniel was Belshazzar. Or the Israelites heard Daniel’s name wrong when the Babylonians said Daniel’s name would be Belshazzar in Babylon. I believe that the whole story was made up of Daniel being renamed to Belteshazzar.

2- Do you have a list, book, or article of the list of Akkadian and Babylonian names? Do you have a book of a list of names from ancient history? I found a website with around 120 Babylonian names and a website with 40 Akkadian names.

Thanks