Cuneiform Diaries

[sheshki]

enenurians,

The clay has revealed a message.
And it spoke to me

Let your enenurian fellows find out what i say, it said.
That they may taste the pleasures of reading my signs, it said.
And that they all get addicted to it, it said.
Let them use the sexiest tool available, it said.
May the clay rise again , it said. (followed by an evil, muddy laughter...hmmm)

So spoke the clay.
So follow all the orders of the clay or be doomed...

On picture one you can see the marked areas with the messages.
it shows 1.)an old magic formulae 2.)pure wisdom i guess 3.)we discuss this later
line 4 is the usual praise to inanna, because the gods must be honoured.

Now you!
Btw, the signs are neo-assyrian, in case anyone didnt notice...

[sheshki]

the clay spoke to me again.
you are under my control, it said.
do what i wish, it said.
write more signs on me, it said.


so i did



the clay is always right!

oh, if you dechiffred the clays message please dont post, send mail to clay headquarter: [e-mail]
the clay said, the best one wins the tablet. generous clay!

[us4-he2-gal2]

Sheshki:


I absolutely love your cuneiform challenge post! That's alot of fun!! Everyone knows I love this post because I already harassed everyone except the cuneiform experts around here since it would be too easy - I bug them with other stuff:

Members challenged: check
Facebook updated: check
Naomi Specifically challenged: Check

I just challenged my mom to take the Cuneiform Challenge 0_0

(Naomi - You are still specificially challenged)

(Don't let my Mom beat you!)

[sheshki]

Well, the clay thinks it is probably to hard for the unpracticed eye to figure out where signs start and end. so it forced me to draw lines on the challenge-post-pictures. so please re-check those pictures.

Sept 26, 2008 22:11:48 GMT -5 Naomi said:

oh, lord...where do I start? Is there a guide somewhere?

naomi, we, the clay and i, know you can do it! You will be surprised about it when done...at least for line 1.

[sheshki]

well, get used to strange looks, thats how most people react (...i know those looks too well) ;D

[sheshki]

Tablets in candlelight

[us4-he2-gal2]

Whew - awesome pic man ;] These look very aged and foreboding and mysterious, like the "The Treasures of Darkness" (treasures in the darkness) as Thorkild Jacobsen named on of his books. It reminds me of the prologue to the epic of Gilgamesh, before the epic begins, the ancient scribes left qualifications as to the fame of this story that they retold again and again:

---

See the tablet box of cedar,
release its clasp of bronze!
Lift the lid of its secret,
pick up the tablet of lapis lazuli and read out
the travails of Gilgamesh, all that he went through.

[/i]

---

[/center]

[sheshki]

Sept 29, 2008 20:27:58 GMT -5 us4-he2-gal2 said:

---

See the tablet box of cedar,
release its clasp of bronze!
Lift the lid of its secret,
picky up the tablet of lapis lazuli and read out
the travails of Gilgamesh, all that he went through.

[/i]

---

[/center][/quote]

Thats a nice quote.

Here i will reveal the secrets of my clayfactory(kitchen),
in the following steps i will show you how i get my clay.
The sand i get contains bigger claypieces and also alot mixed up with the sand. To get this mixed clay i have to water it.

Pic 1
The bucket infront contains watered clay. I fill it half with water, add sand until its 50/50, then i mixed it up good as possible, wait a few seconds that the sand can fall to the bottom of the bucket. Then i collect the brown, claycontaining water to fill it in different vessels. There are also bigger pieces of clay, which i put aside after watering it.



Pic2
Some of the water i filled into these bottles. im not sure yet how to get the clay out, but anyway, it looks cool to shake these
I call em my clay-lava-lamps.



Pic3
These are other vessels i filled the clayie water in. After a long while the clay sinks to the ground and you have a layer of water ontop. To get rid of the water i used some pieces of an old boxershort.



Pic4/5
After a few days the most of the water is gone and i put those vessels near the window to dry em more. It is still very thin mud in it.



In a few days this will be perfect quality clay. Absolute sandfree.



Pic6
Here in the background u can see the bigger claypieces i found inside the claysand. Rolled and ready to dry.



Pic7
No, that are no cookies.



Pic8
And this is how i get fresh clay out of those dry clayballs. Just add water. Easy, isnt it


[/center]

[sheshki]

The time was right to extract some of the clay (pic4/5 clay factory post)
Ush pointed me a few month ago to the proverb "may inanna pure oil on my heart that aches" [231. dinana-ke4 cag4 gig-ga-ju10 i3 he2-eb-de2].
I decided to use this for my right arm tattoo ( if i will ever have enough money for this),
so yesterday i wrote the proverb on clay
Btw, i did get a bakers pin from my mum and i used it to make the clay flat, so this one is around 3mm thick (for all who dont know what 3mm are...well its not much )



the clay



the bakers pin

[sheshki]

I made another tablet with the good quality clay today. I have to say that the bakers pin is a big help. i can make bigger, thinner tablets with it then just with hands. Bad thing is that those thin tablets are somehow fragile...
As inscription i choose two lines i found at etcsl. The first 3 lines say:

Because you are unmatched among the Great Princes, maiden Inana, praising you is magnificent!

Link, last line, click at the number to go to transliteration

next two lines:

Holy Ereshkigal, sweet is your praise!

Link, last line, click at the number to go to transliteration

Some month ago, while i was on search for a tattoo motive, i created a few images like this...:



....So i used them as a pattern for my writing.
Well i wanted to make more pictures of the writing progress but i failed. I guess i was too concentrated on writing.

The pictures:

Uh, im always nervous while writing the first signs



....inscription done, took around 30 min.





Here i added some ornaments and my name and date of creation.



The final version, 12cmx14cm

[sheshki]

Today, i just couldnt refuse to touch the new, not completly dry, tablet and yuck, i broke it in two pieces....
But this gave me the chance to find out how to repair broken tablets...i used muddie clay as glue and it worked...
Now the tablet looks more ancient with that crack...did i mention that the thin ones are fragile...

[sheshki]

Today i challenged myself, i had a bigger piece of clay, and i wanted to do a "replica " of one of the tablets available at cdli.
So after a while searching i found a fitting text...but only the lineart was given. Its a royal inscription by shulgi.

CDLI

This time i made more pictures of the progress

[ummia-inim-gina]

Oct 4, 2008 14:44:20 GMT -5 sheshki said:

Today, i just couldnt refuse to touch the new, not completly dry, tablet and yuck, i broke it in two pieces....
But this gave me the chance to find out how to repair broken tablets...i used muddie clay as glue and it worked...
Now the tablet looks more ancient with that crack...did i mention that the thin ones are fragile...

In modern times this process is call "Score and Slip". Slip being the name for liquid clay used to connect two pieces. I took ceramics and pottery classes for four years. I was the teacher's aid so I was the one who had to load everyone's work into the kiln so I got pretty good at fixing broken pieces from the sloppier students. If you don't score it properly though it will fall apart at the old cracks if you fire it in a kiln. Judging by your pictures you probably know your clay though.

[sheshki]

Enenurians,

The clay has spoken to me:

The first competition is over, he said.
The clay has rendered a decision, he said.
The winner is Lara, he said.
Because she was fast in response, he said.
And free of errors, he said.
So has spoken the clay.

Congratulations, Lara. The tablet goes to you asap. And a big thanks to all enenurians who took part.
And here is the transliteration

1. a-ba-ra-ka-da-ba-ra
2. i-am-me
3. du-mu-ug-tum

Long live mighty clay.

[laramar]

Oct 17, 2008 16:14:49 GMT -5 sheshki said:

Congratulations, Lara. The tablet goes to you asap. And a big thanks to all enenurians who took part.

Thank you, Sheshki! It was certainly an honour to have an opportunity to take part in this challenge. I learned some new signs too. So the clay has spoken and I am but a humble servant of the mighty clay!

du-mu-ug-tum, clay

[us4-he2-gal2]

Adventures in Snell 101: An Update





In my months long efforts to learn the Neo-Assyrian Cuneiform system via Snell`s guide I have now come to the sign:

SAL

Finally, the home stretch is in sight, and I have only 10 signs or so to go - Am very happy at the prospect of getting this challenge down, and surely will find it very satisfying! I will make regular posting in the next week or so on this thread and will likly follow up with much personal adeu and self-congratulation - always have been generous that way

[sheshki]

Hey ush, thats very nice...you will get an extra price from me when your done with snell. The Clay is proud of you! And me too
Btw.here is what epsd says about sal/munus

munus (sal) [WOMAN] (3079x: ED IIIb, Old Akkadian, Lagash II, Ur III, Early Old Babylonian, Old Babylonian, 1st millennium) wr. munus; nu-nus "woman; female" Akk. sinništu

[us4-he2-gal2]

Today I learned NIN

and dam

8 signs to go! 0_0

[us4-he2-gal2]

Today I study the signs:

el

and

lum

...6 more to go

[sheshki]

Enenurians,

i forgot to introduce to you one of my learning tools.I call it my wordbox, and i was inspired by the "wörterkiste" my son had at school. Its a small cardboard box for filter tips, and also the single sheets inside are filtertips. i have around 200 sheets inside the box, on each one is on one side written a sign and on the other side is the transliteration.
This helps much to remember the signs because they appear randomly and not in the order i learned them.
So, enenurians, this is wordbox, wordbox these are my fellow enenurians.


the box


1:the sheets / 2: two filtertip-books filled with signs in the order i learned them, nice size to carry around


the older fi-ti-bo


some signs...


...and the transliterations


the sheets

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

**i just practised with the box and had 6 wrong...out of 202

[laramar]

The cuneiform challenge prize arrived (thank you Sheshki and it was nice suprise to find two tablets in the package! Both now decorate my kitchen:





a-ba-ra-ka-da-ba-ra
i-am-me
du-mu-ug-tum

says clay here as we remember from the cuneiform challenge...



...and here clay calls my name...so that I will always remain a humble servant of clay!



Me and clay!

[sheshki]

Ah, Lara, that´s very nice. We, the clay and myself are happy that you did get your prize.

...and it happend as it was foretold on the holy tablets of the clay

[us4-he2-gal2]

Sheshki:


Your "wordbox" is just astounding! Even as I have seen many wonders of cuneiform eccentricity from you, this is impressive again - I can guaruntee you no one outside of an academic instatition has done such a thing. Is great example of organized learning! I need to stumble on some cardboard now


Lara:


Nice pictures! I certainly envy your rock and plant garden as my own attempt at sustaining plants seems to consistently fail - except my Zebra plant, which is as moody as I am. It droops and is near collapse unless I water it regularly. I also really like your 'me and clay' pic! The prettier side of cuneiform collecting - has Frank told you about our secret gallery? 0_0

[laramar]

Nov 14, 2008 16:01:19 GMT -5 us4-he2-gal2 said:

Sheshki:

Your "wordbox" is just astounding! Even as I have seen many wonders of cuneiform eccentricity from you, this is impressive again - I can guaruntee you no one outside of an academic instatition has done such a thing. Is great example of organized learning!

I need to stumble on some cardboard now

Me too, time to create cardset v2.0 (I used this learning method with my then 6-month-old son, we'll see if I'm able to pick up signs as fast as he learned to recognise words!)

Nov 14, 2008 16:01:19 GMT -5 us4-he2-gal2 said:

Lara:

Nice pictures! I certainly envy your rock and plant garden as my own attempt at sustaining plants seems to consistently fail - except my Zebra plant, which is as moody as I am. It droops and is near collapse unless I water it regularly.

I suggest getting started with some easy care plants like cast iron plant, dragon tree or cactuses. Rocks do not require much attention either

Nov 14, 2008 16:01:19 GMT -5 us4-he2-gal2 said:

I also really like your 'me and clay' pic! The prettier side of cuneiform collecting

Thank you Bill - clay is the pretty one here

Nov 14, 2008 16:01:19 GMT -5 us4-he2-gal2 said:

has Frank told you about our secret gallery? 0_0

Hmmm...which secret gallery you are talking about...?

[us4-he2-gal2]

Today I am studying 3 more signs:












Really easy! And I already know a! heheeh. 3 more signs to go

[sheshki]

today i was at the tattoo shop. i have a date for next monday
and this will be the text



may inanna pour oil on my heart that aches
yippie

[sheshki]

enenurians,

today is a very special day for me. because of two reasons.
1. today im here on this board for exactly one year. and without that, reason number 2 wouldnt have been possible.(uh...grammar)

2. today i got my new tattoo. yippie!





May Inanna pour oil on my heart that aches.

Thanks to ush for pointing me at that proverb and to amarsin for checking the line.

[laramar]

Sheshki, that looks amazing!!! Congratulations for the 1st enenurianship anniversary and thanks for being with us

[ummia-inim-gina]

That is definitely badass Sheshki!

[us4-he2-gal2]

Ah - Very nice! Your Gudea-esque style does indeed convey with timeless script an undying and universal sentiment. A showing of the finer fruits of civilization that makes ones limbs seem virtually unadorned