Ancient Babylonian Hymn Resurrected After 1,000 Years With AI

The hymn, written on clay tablets in cuneiform, shows a closer look at life and beliefs in ancient Mesopotamia, according to a July 2 report by Popular Science.

At Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, researcher Enrique Jiménez and his team worked with the Electronic Babylonian Library Platform to scan and organise thousands of cuneiform fragments.

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Using AI, the system matched pieces of tablets stored in different collections around the world. This process revealed 30 fragments that fit together to form the whole hymn.

The hymn is around 250 lines long and likely dates back to the first millennium Before the Common Era (BCE). It describes the city of Babylon with pride, mentioning its temples, buildings, waterways, and green fields nourished by the Euphrates.

The text also notes that the city’s people were kind to visitors and that many women served as priestesses, which adds details not often seen in other writings from the time.

Babylon, founded around 2000 BCE, was one of the largest cities of the ancient world. Its ruins can be found about 80 kilometres south of Baghdad and are recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

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