AI deciphers ancient Babylonian texts, discovers copy of Gilgamesh epic, lost hymn
AI takes care of deciphering ancient damaged inscriptions and difficult-to-read ancient characters, doing in seconds what would take an expert hours. A research team at
Spiel mit dem Anfang der Weltliteratur - LMU München
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AI Deciphers Ancient Babylonian Texts And Finds Beautiful Lost Hymn |
https://www.iflscience.com/ai-deciphers-ancient-babylonian-texts-and-finds-beautiful-lost-hymn-67428
The inscriptions left behind by the ancients can be difficult to read because they have been shattered and weathered over the years. The inscription decoding AI `` Ithaca '' developed by DeepMind, an AI company under Google's parent company Alphabet, can restore fragmented and unreadable ancient Greek inscriptions with up to 72% accuracy, and experts have fallen out over 2 hours AI algorithms are useful in the field of archaeology, such as AI repairing descriptions in a few seconds.
Succeeded in restoring the lost inscription with DeepMind's inscription decoding AI 'Ithaca' with 72% accuracy - GIGAZINE
Similarly, the LMU research team is leading the `` Electronic Babylonian Literature Project '', which uses AI to decipher ancient Babylonian cuneiform characters. The ancient Babylonian script was written on clay tablets, and today only countless fragments remain, which will take time to restore, and the text was written in two complex early systems, Sumerian and Akkadian. Therefore, it is quite difficult to decipher. The famous Epic of Gilgamesh, over 4,000 years old, is only two-thirds legible since it was rediscovered in the 19th century.
Enrique Jiménez, professor of ancient Near Eastern literature at the LMU Institute, has been working to digitize all surviving cuneiform scripts since 2018, and has processed nearly 22,000 text fragments by 2023. That's right. This database, which can systematically and automatically assemble text fragments, is named 'Fragmentarium', and it is expected that in the future it will be possible to recognize and transcribe cuneiform photographs. increase. The LMU's announcement describes the Fragmentarium as 'we believe it is integral to the reconstruction of Babylonian literature, and we can now proceed with this reconstruction much more quickly.'
The LMU research team is learning algorithms to connect the individual fragments that have not yet been elucidated. It has already confirmed hundreds of manuscripts and many textual relationships, and in November 2022, it recognized a fragment belonging to the 130 BC lithograph, the latest date of the Gilgamesh epic. Jimenez said, 'This is thousands of years old from what is known as the oldest version.It is very interesting that Gilgamesh was copied so late.'
Jiménez not only found new texts and authors of texts in this project, but also discovered previously unknown genres. One of them is the text of 'hymn to the city of Babylon', and Mr. Jimenez commented on this discovery, 'Until now, no hymn to the city has been found in the Babylonian literature. We found 15 of them in 2009 and deciphered them with Fragmentarium. Without Fragmentarium, it would have taken 30 to 40 years to restore them.” According to Jiménez, the hymn is a very vivid depiction of the arrival of spring in Babylon. The content of the hymn released by LMU is as follows.
Aratu River
Created by Nudimud, Lord of Wisdom
Water the plains, wet the reeds,
Pour the water into the lagoon and the sea.
Green blooms in his meadows,
The fields shine with fresh grain.
Thanks to him the grain piles up,
Grass grows high as pasture for flocks,
With wealth and splendor befitting humanity,
All are covered with a glorious richness.
Fragmentarium's platform is accessible to scholars around the world and is being leveraged for a variety of projects. In February 2023, LMU researchers will open Fragmentarium to the public, and for the first time, will publish a digital version of the database-based ancient Babylonian script. ``There are thousands of fragments that have not yet been confirmed.With Fragmentarium, everyone can enjoy the investigation,'' Jimenez said.
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