Detail of cuneiform chiselled onto the wing of a protective spirit from an ancient Assyrian palace in Nimrud. Just stunning. - ThreadSky

moudhy.bsky.social • 14 days ago

Detail of cuneiform chiselled onto the wing of a protective spirit from an ancient Assyrian palace in Nimrud.

Just stunning.

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krislindbeck.bsky.social•14 days ago

What are some of the words, do you know?

nosugartea.bsky.social•14 days ago

Wow! How is it read? Like up and down or across?

moudhy.bsky.social•14 days ago

Across from left to right 🥰

silvergrass.bsky.social•14 days ago

This style is so rounded and curvy— beautifully suited to the wing!

moudhy.bsky.social•14 days ago

Yes! The signs almost look like they are just the texture of a feather

sriku.org•14 days ago

Also as though lots of tiny birds have been carved onto the wing.

silvergrass.bsky.social•14 days ago

That is a beautiful idea!!

moudhy.bsky.social•14 days ago

Their footprints 🕊️

sublitotic.bsky.social•14 days ago

Are the grid marks separating individual signs or words? (I can’t imagine how you’d otherwise know if a single wedge mark grouped with the one before it vs. the one after or below it).

dasemu.bsky.social•14 days ago

It's super impressive how condensed cuneiform can be. It seems information can be packed quite dense in comparison to early Greek inscriptions for example. Or is that just an impression?

ibehester.bsky.social•14 days ago

Given the materiality of cuneiform, do we know whether blind people could read it?

zebharadon.bsky.social•12 days ago

You could test that out today

moudhy.bsky.social•14 days ago

This is such an interesting question. I don’t actually know. @blindscholar.bsky.social has done some excellent work on blindness in ancient Mesopotamia, including in the context of professions. He may have some thoughts?

blindscholar.bsky.social•14 days ago

I would say it depends. It is easier to feel raised text/shapes than inscribed ones, and given the small size of most cuneiform on tablets I doubt they could be read by hand. Some of the wall relief inscriptions have signs that are about an inch tall each, so perhaps that would be possible.

jpspalding.com•14 days ago

I heard cuneiform was written on everything, the walls of temples, the underside of a brick, the roof of a house, tablets of course front and back. These guys were writing machines

wannabe-medusa.bsky.social•13 days ago

I can’t get over how beautiful cuneiform is

moudhy.bsky.social•13 days ago

Me too. It’s so gorgeous. I know it gets some mean comparisons sometimes (dig biscuits, chicken feet etc) but I love it

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