Well this has been the busiest month of my life so far (waking up at 4am to work before work and then working after hours almost daily). Sorry to have left you all without cuneiform for so long. Here is a canine Sith Lord to tide you over until I’ve recovered and can properly return…

The conservative movement has turned against reality on every scientific issue of our time, from gun violence to climate change to epidemiology. If campuses are ideologically homogenous, it's not because academia has ostracized conservatives. It's because conservatives have ostracized academia.

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This tiny fragment of an ancient stone bowl preserves a moment in the life of someone who helped bring babies into the world. The bowl is broken, the name is broken, but the profession is not. This bowl was dedicated to a deity by a sha-zu, a “midwife” sometime around 2500 BCE.

10. Someone I've followed forever on twitter (& now here) - I was super excited to have @moudhy.bsky.social on to talk all things ancient near east, particularly kingship www.politicalphilosophypodcast.com/tfk

the one on the right is a copy of part of a list of Akkadian synonyms called Malku=sharru. Words that are difficult for some reason (like being old, or from another language) are explained using a more straightforward word. Very helpful list

I’m so excited to join @lswisnom.bsky.social tomorrow for a panel on ancient Mesopotamia! It’s not too late to buy tickets if you’d like to join two Assyriologists nerd out over old stuff with Shappi Khorsandi events.bl.uk/events/histf...

Beautiful photos. The tablet on the left is the “Flood Tablet” of the Epic of Gilgamesh. The tablet on the right looks like it might be a word list.

A little Sumerian riddle to brighten your day. “When I am small, I am the child of the garden. “When I grow, I am (on) the body of the gods. “When I became an old person, I am the physician of the land.” What am I?

The best SBL panel I attended was on the use of ancient stories of genocide in Israel for modern acts of genocide in Israel. My philological take: Religious Mass Murder of Canaanites in Iron Age Israel: Did it Really Happen and Where did the Idea Come From? sethlsanders.wordpress.com/2024/09/30/r...

I had the pleasure of talking to Dr Philip Davies about ancient Mesopotamia and my book, Between Two Rivers. Early writing, cities, medicine, museums, astronomy, & more. He saved the best for last with a question about wisdom from 5,000 years ago. Hope you enjoy it! www.youtube.com/watch?v=ez41...

I'll be in Oxford tomorrow talking to @moudhy.bsky.social about history and Fall of Civilizations and signing books. Come join us! Date: 22 apr • 17:30 Location: 48-51 Broad Street, Oxford, OX1 3BQ www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/moudhy-al-...

Don't sleep on @jonjtaylor.bsky.social's interview with @moudhy.bsky.social, their discussion on scale and detail of historical narratives in particular is lovely: www.buzzsprout.com/1338718/epis...

*6 DAYS UNTIL HISTFEST 2025* Have you got your tickets? Join us for a weekend of history at the British Library 26-27 April. Including… 📜 ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA with @moudhy.bsky.social Shaparak Khorsandi & Selena Wisnom ⏰ 5PM, SAT 26 APRIL 🎟️ Book via HistFest.org (click ‘HistFest 2025’)

Euphemisms for pot have a long history: the 15th-century study of ḥašīš "weed" in Arabic, by the historian al-Badrī, tells us that 'In Yemen it is “the Green.” In Diyar Bakr, it is “the Dusty.” In Antioch, it is “Cat-head"...In Syria, it is known as “the Toasted” in Hama and “the Cheerer” in Homs.'

Back on social media after a few days off to recover from a really heavy week, and was not expecting to return to so much book love. You are all so kind. Thank you 🧡

A wonderful fascinating book. I was not expecting to find this history, stories from Mesopotamia so engaging. I am loving the glimpses of astronomy, mathematics, neighbour disputes, gods and kings. The author has done an outstanding job. (About half way through but had to proclaim my delight.)

Looking for a #history pod to listen to this weekend? I had a super time speaking with brilliant @moudhy.bsky.social about her book on ancient Mesopotamia & the 'history of history' #BetweenTwoRivers, for @intelligence2.bsky.social Available on all your pod platforms: megaphone.link/NSR8766235582

I'm with @cosmicrami.com on this. Hands down one of the best books I've read in the last few years. An absolute banger by @moudhy.bsky.social

In this book @moudhy.bsky.social opens and closes with the story of Ennigaldi-Nanna — a princess and high priestess that might have curated thousands of years of her own past and history. Moudhy’s book is today’s version of Ennigaldi-Nanna’s museum - a collection and look into ancient Mesopotamia.

Of course for me, the early beginnings of astronomy stood out. The passion and enthusiasm I have for this topic today forms a bridge that stretches thousands of years back through time to my ancestors who defined the mathematics of eclipses and recorded comets passing through their skies.

I had goosebumps as each chapter ended. My brain was like a Time Machine that transported me back to be an observer in each of these stories — just there, present and watching the daily lives of the people of Mesopotamia. Their joys, struggles, thinking, pain, learnings, marvel and communications.

Of course, I am biased here. I’m a big fan of @moudhy.bsky.social work AND I am a direct descendant of the people this book is about (I’m Assyrian). But this book taught me more about my own ancestors than my parents, the internet and our church (when I was a kid) ever did — through their words.

Book review 🧵👇🏽 ‘Between Two Rivers’ by @moudhy.bsky.social I finally got a moment this weekend to sit down and finish the last chapter. I’ve been holding off because, I didn’t want it to end. What a wonderful journey across time this book is. Probably my favourite book I’ve read in last 5 years.

@moudhy.bsky.social The shop at the Leiden Museum of Antiquities. It's gone now. 😄

A gorgeous and evocative timeline cleanse. (I'm sure you know this piece of work, but this is interesting post might be new to you @moudhy.bsky.social)

🎉 NEW ARTICLE! 🎉 www.workingclassicists.com/zine/book-re... @rhigarthjones.bsky.social has just finished Between Two Rivers, @moudhy.bsky.social’s book about Mesopotamia, and has been absolutely entranced by what’s between two covers.

I ADDED THIS TO ALL MY WISH LISTS SO FAST I WENT BACK IN TIME AND NOW I DON’T NEED TO READ IT.

Always love me some ancient Mesopotamia shade 🤣

Fascinating thread worth reading! "Only two ask Shamash to overlook that they were written by a woman." The statement highlights what appears a rare and significant detail about ancient-Assyrian oracular queries: #History 🧪 #HistSci

Two stats made me stop eating beef. 1. The water footprint is astronomical with different estimates (eg 16,000 litres of embedded water to produce 1kg beef). They’re all horrifying 2. Meat production is single biggest driver of deforestation I only wish I’d learned this stuff sooner.

What I take from this is: If you ever feel bad about not writing that thing, remember that people have been struggling with procrastination since writing was invented.

Ancient Assyrian glazing is on another level

I really do not appreciate being called out by ancient civilizations.

… now I want to be spanked while someone tells me to do my homework in Assyrian. lol.

The more people change, the more we stay the same

"research activity conducted by Universities is fantastically loss-making," Vivien Stern, @universities-uk.bsky.social on BBC4 today Reckless choice of word to describe a public good, produced by public service institutions, charities and their workforce. This is what got us into this mess.

An inscription mentioning 'ama-gi₄' from the reign of Entemena (ca 2400 BC) reads: ama-gi₄ lagašᵏⁱ e-ŋar ama dumu i₃-ni-gi₄ dumu ama i₃-ni-gi₄ [Entemena brought] freedom to Lagash he placed child back with mother and mother back with child

Guess where I am today.

A day to read Eman Abukhadra’s dual language poem for #AhmedManasra, who’s finally been released from prison. She wrote it upon witnessing his mother’s anguish & abiding love for her child. #ArabicBetweenLoveAndWar

Finding out that I’m Assyrian queen material in the best way

Humbly demanding that someone accurately convert this tablet into a cross-stitch pattern

Relatable Assyrian Content

Still a preferable system to my work email.

Words for writers to live by. I'm sorry, Sheru'a-etirat. I'll do better, darn it. Even though I'm not your sister.

Saving the phrase "Is *this* the sister of Sheru'a-eṭirat, eldest daughter of the Succession Palace of Ashur-etel-ilani-mukinni, the great king, mighty king, king of the world, king of Assyria?" for the next wee chat I have to have with a student.

"Stop procrastinating" in cuneiform: "Why don't you write your tablet and do your homework? If you don't, they will say: "Is *this* the sister of Sheru'a-eṭirat, eldest daughter of the Succession Palace of Ashur-etel-ilani-mukinni, the great king, mighty king, king of the world, king of Assyria?"

Hey Shamash been a long time since I hollered at you, I think it was the Month of Making Bricks, anyway know we don't always get along since you scorched my fig trees also I'm a woman now so