Mnamon
Ancient writing systems in the Mediterranean
A critical guide to electronic resources
News
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2023-09-20Mnamon Seminars
On Thursday October 12th at 3 p.m. the following seminar will be held online:
Giulia Torri (University of Florence)
"Uso simbolico delle parti del corpo nei rituali magici ititti"
Abstract. Tra i testi in grafia cuneiforme ritrovati nella capitale ittita, Hattuša (XVII-XIII sec. a.C.) un ampio numero contiene la descrizione di rituali magici eseguiti per la purificazione di pazienti da diversi tipi di calamità e malattie. I rituali magici si compongono di numerose pratiche che spesso coinvolgono il corpo del paziente che viene trattato, pulito e purificato al fine di ripristinare il suo stato originario di salute. Visto che spesso il paziente è il sovrano, la purificazione del suo corpo si estende simbolicamente al ripristino dell’ordine nel regno da lui controllato. Il punto di partenza di questa presentazione è un rituale di scongiuro antico-ittita per il re Labarna (XVII-XVI sec.?), CTH 412.3, che conserva la purificazione dettagliata delle parti del corpo del sovrano, elencate una per una, attraverso il contatto con le arti del corpo equivalenti di un piccolo animale. Partendo da questo rituale saranno analizzati motivi simili in altri testi al fine di mostrare l’uso e il trattamento simbolico del corpo del sovrano nella magia ittita e la possibile origine di tale pratica in ambito anatolico.
Live video streaming here.
(A.Russo) -
2023-09-11Hieroglyphs AI
The Hieroglyphs AI Android app has been released. This application is designed to assist in the translation of Egyptian inscriptions and texts from the Classical period. The app is built upon Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies that utilize Deep Learning neural networks to optically recognize hieroglyphs.
The app displays the code according to Gardiner's list, along with any associated phonetic meanings. It operates without the need for an internet connection, and no registration or login is required.
You can download the app for free from the Google Play Store:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ai.hieroglyphs.hieroglyphs_ai
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2023-08-25Hieroglyphs. Studies in Ancient Egyptian Writing
New, internationally peer-reviewed, open access e-journal that aims to promote the academic study of hieroglyphs in all their dimensions in Egyptology and with a comparative angle extending to other hieroglyphic traditions and writing systems with a strongly iconic component.
http://www.hieroglyphs-journal.org/ -
2023-08-23Seminar
On August 31st starting at 3 p.m. the following seminar will be held online via Zoom (a registration fee is required to fund scholarships and ASOR activities)
Seth Sanders (University of California, Davis)
Who really invented the alphabet?
Abstract. Despite its vast influence, we are still uncertain about precisely where the world’s most influential communication system came from. This talk will present new evidence for a strictly visual, rather than Egyptian-scribal-based linguistic basis for the alphabet’s origins, and for its informal use by non-scribal—and perhaps also scribal--users during its first 500 years. This evidence for the success of a new sort of non-scribal writing system outside of bureaucratic centers has historical analogies in the spread and development of the Greek alphabet and can help us reflect on the role of play and craft traditions in the invention and spread of new cultural phenomena. Information: https://www.asor.org/news/2023/8/webinar-sanders-alphabet -
2023-07-03Amorrean-Accadian bilingual vocabulary discovered
The paper by Andrew George, Manfred Krebernik, "Two Remarkable Vocabularies: Amorite-Akkadian Bilinguals!", Revue d'assyriologie et d'archéologie orientale Vol. 116 (2022), 113-166) concerns the edition of two hitherto unpublished cuneiform tablets from the Paleo-Babylonian period that contain a bilingual Amorrean and Akkadian vocabulary. The discovery makes a significant contribution to our knowledge of the grammar and vocabulary of Amorrean, a Northwest Semitic language.
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2023-01-23Mnamon update
The Mnamon sections for Cuneiform Hittite, Cuneiform Luwian, Hieroglyphic Luwian, Hurrian, Carian, Phrygian, Lycian, Lydian, Eblaite, Messapic, Raetic, Ancient South Arabian and Ancient North Arabian were carefully reviewed and enriched by the specialists.
(A.Russo)
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2022-12-16Book
The Scribe in the Biblical World. A Bridge Between Scripts, Languages and Cultures, Edited by Esther Eshel and Michael Langlois, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter 2023.
This book offers a fresh look at the status of the scribe in society, his training, practices, and work in the biblical world.
More information here
What was the scribe’s role in these societies? Were there rival scribal schools? What was their role in daily life? How many scripts and languages did they grasp? Did they master political and religious rhetoric? Did they travel or share foreign traditions, cultures, and beliefs? Were scribes redactors, or simply copyists? What was their influence on the redaction of the Bible? How did they relate to the political and religious powers of their day? Did they possess any authority themselves? These are the questions that were tackled during an international conference held at the University of Strasbourg on June 17–19, 2019. The conference served as the basis for this publication, which includes fifteen articles covering a wide geographical and chronological range, from Late Bronze Age royal scribes to refugees in Masada at the end of the Second Temple period.
(D.Tripaldi) -
2022-12-12Universal Hieroglyph Translator
IOS app that translates hieroglyphs into 59 modern languages using the internal 50,000 entries dictionary. Glyph input uses Gardiner codes and MoC encoding in any combination. The translations are vetted against R. Hannig's Großes Handwörterbuch (1995).
More information and examples here: https://arch.aviametrix.com/portfolio/universal-hieroglyph-translator/
(D.Salvoldi) -
2022-11-22First complete sentence in Proto-Canaanite
The oldest complete sentence in Proto-Canaanite includes 7 words and is an invocation to the gods on an ivory comb for removing lice unearthed at the Lachish site.
More information
Related scientific paper
(P.Merlo) -
2022-11-21Mnamon Seminars
On Thursday December 1st at 3 p.m. the following seminar will be held online:
Francesca Maltomini (Direttrice Istituto Papirologico "Girolamo Vitelli" - Università di Firenze)
"La scrittura dei testi magici nell’Egitto greco-romano"
Abstract. La stesura di un testo (spesso attraverso l’uso di materiali scrittori specifici) era, nel ‘sistema magico’ antico, parte integrante, e centrale, della maggior parte degli incantesimi. I prodotti scritti del rito magico presentano particolarità sia sul piano linguistico, sia su quello della disposizione e della funzione della scrittura, che spesso si assimila ad elementi grafici di altro tipo. Le testimonianze di ambito papirologico conservano sia un numero elevato di questi testi, sia alcuni corposi ricettari magici che forniscono istruzioni su come scriverli. Il seminario proporrà un’analisi delle caratteristiche dell’insieme queste testimonianze, volta a individuare in esse elementi di normatività, idiosincrasie e indizi sulle competenze e le scelte degli scriventi.
Live video streaming here.
(A.Russo)