Chapter 1
The stone that spoke three tongues
Chapter 2
Cracking the clay code of Babylon
Chapter 3
Unraveling the mystery of Maya glyphs
Chapter 4
Lost scripts we still cannot read
Ch 2 · Cracking the clay code of Babylon
BETA
choko Decode ancient clay tablets to discover how we read the world's forgotten languages.
choko A self-taught museum assistant shocked the world by translating a 4,000-year-old Mesopotamian flood myth.
Fun Fact
Ancient complaint letters: One of the museum's Babylonian tablets is a 3,750-year-old complaint letter from a customer unhappy with the quality of copper he bought.
choko Ancient Mesopotamians used reed styluses to press wedge-shaped symbols into wet clay tablets.
Glossary
cuneiform (noun)
An ancient system of writing using wedge-shaped characters typically impressed on clay tablets. In 1857, four scholars independently translated a Babylonian text to prove this script had been successfully deciphered.
An ancient system of writing using wedge-shaped characters typically impressed on clay tablets. In 1857, four scholars independently translated a Babylonian text to prove this script had been successfully deciphered.
Quiz
Where was the Library of Ashurbanipal, which contained thousands of clay tablets, discovered?
Quiz
Which language family does Akkadian, one of the main languages written in cuneiform, belong to?