#Library of Ashurbanipal

[daytaker]

LIBRARY OF NEO-ASSYRIAN KING ASHURBANIPAL MENTIONED!!!

*slams the reblog button*

It makes me fairly sad that people don't explore brother dynamics within obey me more. We know that some of them have separate group chats without the others, like Beel, Satan and Asmo have one together, and Asmo and Mammon have been spotted getting along many a time. Levi and Mammon both dunk on lucifer alot, the anti Lucifer league ect..

I'm not sure where I was going with this but I think what I'm saying is I like seeing them be friends and no bullying each other

[jeannereames]

I just listened to the podcast interview you posted here, and the question you answered about Alexandria intrigued me! I always thought that the city Alexander left was smaller and not as relevant as it would eventually become. Could we then say that the Ptolemies carried out (probably due to their own interests as sovereigns, but still) Alexander's will by turning Alexandria into an international hub in the Mediterranean?

Alexander merely "cut" the lines of what would become Alexandria (e.g., the basic layout of it). He never lived to see it built. There's some debate as to how much input he really had, but I'm disinclined to dismiss a very real interest on his part in city design. He was Aristotles' student. :-)

I do think he had big plans for the place. So in that respect, Ptolemy (and his successors) carried out what I believe he wanted, including the library. Supposedly, he was inspired after being shown the ruins of Ashurbanipal's Library when they passed Nineveh on the way to fight Darius at Gaugamela. He wanted to do the same, but with all Greek knowledge. (E.g., collect it in one place.) Again, some have doubted the idea of the library was ever his, but it doesn't strike me as an un-Alexander-ish notion.

[lordkryze]

Us? (I’m lying on my death-bed and you are suffering next to me)

[the-goblin-queen]

[latest-info]

10 Hidden Gems in History You Didn't Learn in School

History is a vast tapestry woven with countless threads of human experience, innovation, and interaction. While school curriculums often focus on the major events and figures, there are many lesser-known but equally fascinating stories that offer rich insights into our past. Here are ten hidden gems in history that you likely didn’t learn about in school, each one a testament to the diverse and…

[barbariankingdom]

5,500 Year Old Sumerian Star Map. This cuneiform clay tablet that indicates the Köfel’s impact event was observed in ancient times. The circular stone-cast tablet was recovered from the 650 BC underground library of King Ashurbanipal in Nineveh, Iraq in the late 19th century.

[memories-of-ancients]

Flood tablet/Epic of Gilgamesh, from the Library of Ashurbanipal, Assyrian, 7th century BC

from The British Museum

[lynnlyrae]

The lost name

I think Vanitas’s real name could be Deucalion. 

In this text I’ll cover my reasons for choosing this name, its connection to the story of Noah and the myth of Pandora and how would it correlate with the relationship of Vanitas and Noé. 

Posting this as an actual answer to @scar-eyejolteon14 as promised here. 

The lore of Deucalion 

It all started when I was wondering what kind of name I could give Vani if I were to draw him as a Chasseur (ordinary human, who’ve never met Luna and never inherited their name). I began with the most obvious thing: checking Vani’s wiki page for existing details and references. I went with his zodiak sign, Aquarius, as the staring point, because stars and celestial bodies are recurring theme in VnC and well why not?.. 

The next obvious place to go is wiki page for Aquarius. Here we come across a fun thing: Babylonian star catalogues. They contained lists of stars, constellations, and planets. 

I found the first picture on a somewhat strange website, but whatever. This is a fragment of a circular star calendar, which belonged to the library of King Ashurbanipal (668-627 BC) in Nineveh. The second picture is a star list, found in Uruk (320-150 BC). It had information on all constellations such as names, number of stars, their distance, etc. Just so we understand that astronomy was a big deal there. 

And yes, the capital of Babylonia was Babel — that one city with the tower (The Book of Genesis, Genesis 11) which is referenced in VnC. 

(Ch. 21) 

What did Babylonian astronomers think of Aquarius? Well, they associated this constellation with the Ea. “The Great One” is his title. He’s also known as Enki, god of magic, fertility, creation, etc., who was originally a water god (and his temple name E-apsu means “house of the watery deep", idk I think it sounds really cool). The water theme is not random: Aquarius was also associated with floods. Water was sacred, but also deadly: floods were source of destruction. 

Later, a Latin author Gaius Julius Hyginus quoted an Alexandrian historian Hegesianax that Deucalion is to be identified with Aquarius, "because during his reign such quantities of water poured from the sky that the great Flood resulted." Again, we see the idea of destructive flood. But where does Deucalion bring us? To Noah. Or Noé, if you will. 

(Ch. 1) 

Deucalion and Noah 

Both Deucalion and Noah are central figures of the classical flood myth, which exists in various cultures. While these two are probably among the most popular figures, there are other examples, including Utnapishtim, who was warned by the god Ea (who also created humans among other things) about the flood and instructs him to build a boat and save his family and animals. The stories of Deucalion and Noah follow the same pattern with some minor variations. But Deucalion is the one who is associated with Aquarius, the constellation that symbolizes the coming of the flood and all its terrors, while Noah/Noé is associated with salvation of human race and all living things. 

Deluge, 1864, by Aivazovsky. This painting depicts a beginning of a biblical story about the near-end of human race. It’s pretty much the same in other versions of the story. 

Deucalion and Pandora 

What’s interesting, Deucalion’s myth is directly related to Pandora’s myth. Deucalion is usually described as the son of Prometheus, while Deucalion’s wife Pyrrha was the daughter of Pandora. And Pandora’s myth is among the core themes of “Pandora hearts”. If we consider the possibility of VnC and PH’s universes being connected, the idea of Deucalion being Vani’s true name would also make sense… For example, this theory covers the topic.  

Left – Noah gives Thanks for Deliverance, 1901, by Domenico Morelli. Here we see Noah from the Old Testament, with his family, as they give thanks for their safe deliverance back to land after surviving the flood. A double rainbow signifies God’s presence.

Right – Deucalion and Pyrrha, 1636–1637, by Rubens. This painting shows a scene from the story of Deucalion and Pyrrha as told by Ovid in Metamorphoses. After surviving the disaster, they had to throw stones over their shoulders, each of which became a new human being.

Even if worlds of Pandora Hearts and Vanitas no Carte don’t exist in the same universe, there clearly is thematical relation between the two stories, one being about hope and another about despair. What’s even more interesting, there was actually a whole discourse about what’s hidden in Pandora’s jar: is it true hope or is it actually an illusion of salvation which hurts even more than actual despair? The translation of the word elpis, the spirit of hope in the jar, is actually neutral in its meaning. It’s simply “hope”, not inherently “good” or “bad”, which leaves a lot of space for interpretation in media. 

Vanitas and Noé

Volume 3 cover implies that Vanitas will be marked by an Archiviste. It’s unknown whether this Archiviste would ne Noé or Machina or even some other. I hope it’s gonna be Noé, because it would break a specific border between them and it will definitely be very dramatic, but Machina might do it for the sake of obtaining information, which is her main thing. Anyway, regardless of who does this, when and why, I believe that this moment is probably the real possibility for revealing the true name of Vanitas. 

On a side note, it would also be kinda interesting if Noé gets to know Vani’s true name, but it will still be hidden from us, the readers. There’s is also a possibility that Vani’s true name will not be revealed even in this situation. His goal is to erase everything related to the Vampire of the Blue Moon, and I guess that would mean erasing everything about himself too. But in Ch1 he promises to stay here even after he is gone, so it might imply that at least someone will get to remember him — perhaps as Xxxx the human, not Vanitas, kin of the Blue Moon. Which might mean going against Luna’s request… 

(Ch. 50) 

And, well, Xxxx could de Deucalion. Just think about it: wouldn’t it be cool if both Vani and Noé were given names with similar symbolism behind it and later both assume the moniker of Vanitas?

Plus the whole “loop” thing, like “memory loop” theory and “time loop theory” (here and here) again adds to the idea of connection between them. The loop where ends and beginnings melt into each other, like Ouroboros eating its own tail. The loop between Vanitas and Noé, where they will have to understand pointlessness and hopefulness of life – and what does in mean to save and be saved. 

The ultimate hope of survival becomes fleeting dream for all caught in this loop. But every dream is destined to end, as pointed by Saint Germain. And what will happen, when Vanitas and Noé will have to wake up from the dream of their own? What will prevail - death and futility of life or salvation and rebirth? 

(Ch. 55) 

[whencyclopedia]

The World's Oldest Love Poem

The world's oldest love poem is The Love Song for Shu-Sin (c. 2000 BCE) composed in ancient Mesopotamia for use in part of the sacred rites of fertility. Prior to its discovery in the 19th century, and its translation in the 20th, the biblical Song of Songs was thought to be the oldest love poem extant.

In the 19th century, archaeologists descended on the region of Mesopotamia seeking physical evidence which would corroborate the biblical narratives of the Old Testament. While this may not have been initially their driving purpose, their need for funding (based on public interest to justify such funding) soon made it so.

Instead of finding the evidence they hoped for, they discovered cuneiform tablets which established that many of the biblical narratives were derived from Mesopotamian sources. This discovery had a profound impact not only on biblical scholarship at the time but the history of the world as it was then understood.

Excavation & Discovery

When the archaeologist Austen Henry Layard began excavations at Kalhu in 1845, assisted by Hormuzd Rassam, he was under so much pressure to find biblical sites that he jumped to the conclusion the city he had uncovered was Nineveh. His published account of the excavations, in 1849, was titled Nineveh and its Remains and, owing to Nineveh's fame from the Bible, the book became a best seller. The success of the book sparked further interest in Mesopotamian history as a means of corroborating biblical narratives and so further expeditions were sent to the region in search of other cities mentioned in the Bible.

Prior to this time, the Bible was considered the oldest book in the world and The Song of Songs from the Bible (also known as The Song of Solomon) the oldest love poem. Interestingly, the expeditions sent to historically corroborate the stories from the Bible did precisely the opposite. When Layard excavated the actual site of Nineveh in 1846-1847, he discovered the library of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal (r. 668-627 BCE) and the cuneiform texts, which were then translated by the legendary George Smith, made it clear that the story of the Fall of Man and The Great Flood and Noah's Ark were not original compositions of the authors of the Book of Genesis but were pre-existing Mesopotamian tales which were re-worked by later Hebrew scribes. The Song of Songs, dated to the 6th-3rd centuries BCE, could no longer be considered the oldest love poem once The Love Song for Shu-Sin (written c.2000 BCE) was discovered.

Continue reading...

[talonabraxas]

Enuma Elish - The Babylonian Epic of Creation

The Enuma Elish (also known as The Seven Tablets of Creation) is the Babylonian creation myth whose title is derived from the opening lines of the piece, "When on High". The myth tells the story of the great god Marduk's victory over the forces of chaos and his establishment of order at the creation of the world.

All of the tablets containing the myth (also known as Enuma Elis), found at Ashur, Kish, Ashurbanipal's library at Nineveh, Sultantepe, and other excavated sites, date to c. 1200 BCE. Their colophons, however, indicate that these are all copies of a much older version of the myth dating from long before the reign of Hammurabi of Babylon (1792-1750 BCE), the king who elevated the god Marduk to patron deity of Babylon. The poem in its present form, with Marduk as champion, is thought to be a revision of an even older Sumerian work.

As Marduk, the champion of the young gods in their war against Tiamat, is of Babylonian origin, the Sumerian Ea/Enki or Enlil is thought to have played the major role in the original version of the story. The copy found at Ashur has the god Assur in the main role as was the custom of the cities of Mesopotamia. The god of each city was always considered the best and most powerful. Marduk, the god of Babylon, only figures as prominently as he does in the story because most of the copies found are from Babylonian scribes. Even so, Ea does still play an important part in the Babylonian version of the Enuma Elish by creating human beings.

Marduk: The King of Anunnaki

[shingujizine]

Interest checks are still open for our rebooted Shinguji Fanzine! You can find more details about the project on the carrd linked below.

https://shingujizine.carrd.co/

🌹 The earliest known library is the Royal Library of Ashurbanipal from Mesopotamia (specifically Assyria), founded sometime in the 7th century BCE. Most texts kept in Mesopotamia were commercial and administrative records, but a large body of “omen texts” were also recovered. The omen texts had mostly astrological predictions, relating celestial phenomena directly to the king and the state.

[lordkryze]

First date idea

[inspofromancientworld]

The History of Glass and Glass Making

Glass is an amorphous solid, often transparent material. The amorphous part means that the atoms aren't aligned in any particular order. It is formed when molten silicon containing compounds are cooled rapidly. It is fairly easy to shape and is inert, meaning it won't interact with most chemicals, making it a good container for many things.

By Ji-ElleIt feels nice and warmIt feels like a love storm - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15527635 By Stickpen - Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10689767 By H. Raab (User:Vesta) - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=488611 and By H. Raab (User:Vesta) - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=486872

Natural glass comes in a few forms, such as obsidian from volcanoes, fulgurites from lightning strikes, Moldavite from meteorite impacts in central and eastern Europe, Libyan desert glass from meteorite impacts in the Sahara, and the more general impactite as the name for glass created by meteorite impacts, and Edeowie glass, which we're still trying to figure out what created it.

By Nsingapuri - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=78429853

During the Stone Age, many societies used tools made from obsidian glass, knapped into blades for cutting and traded widely given the limited sources, it being only found near volcanoes, and the wide spread of the tools we find. As metal working began to grow in the Bronze Age, resulting in beads being found in the slag and the creation of faience, a type of glazing that used quartz that is heated so it becomes glass-like used by the Egyptians.

source: https://www.metmuseum.org/met-publications/studies-in-early-egyptian-glass

True glass making likely started in the Late Bronze Age in Egypt and Megiddo. Archaeologists have found glass ingots of various colors, vessels that mimicked semi-precious stone carvings, and deliberately made beads. Soda ash (sodium carbonate) from plant ash was added to sand to create glass which was then extracted into a rope and formed into vessel by coiling it around a clay or sand shape then reheating it multiple times to make the layers fuse together. Beads were more easily formed this way. Colored glass was made by various metallic oxides and then applied to vessels by drawing the glass into finer lines and then rolling the vessels or beads until the surface was smooth, a process called marvering. Handles and feet were made and applied separately. Much of the rest of glass production was done when it was cold, taking techniques from stone working to finish the glass when it was cooled. These techniques were closely guarded secrets of various palace controlled industries centered around Western Asia, Crete, and Egypt. By the 15th century BCE, Linear B script has been found that translates to 'workers of lapis lazuli and glass' (𐀓𐀷𐀜𐀺𐀒𐀂, ku-wa-no-wo-ko-i).

By SBAUmbria - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=33260156

The Late Bronze Age Collapse brought glass making to a near complete halt until the 9th century BCE in Syria and Cyprus when they discovered how to make colorless glass. Ashurbanipal's library contained instructions on how to make glass from about 650 BCE. Egypt's glass industry wasn't revived until the Ptolemies took over in 305 BCE. Glass making techniques were experimented with resulting in advancement, including 'slumping' (draping not quite molten glass over a form to make dishes), millefiori, where colored glass canes were sliced into small pieces and then fused together to create a mosaic-like tile effect. Glass blowing was discovered during the 1st century BCE, making glass vessels much easier to produce and 'inexpensive compared to pottery vessels'. Clear glass, which required the addition of manganese dioxide, was discovered in Alexandria around 100 CE, which led to the development of window glass (though the technique to make them made them quite poor optically) with windows found in the wealthiest villas in Pompeii and Herculaneum.

source https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10437-021-09467-1

In India, the earliest glass is a brown bead dated to about 1700 BCE though widespread evidence of glass usage didn't occur until the 3rd century BCE when large quantities of jewelry and vessels were discovered in Taxila. The first site to produce glass in India is Kopia in Uttar Pradesh which was apparently in use from the 7th century BCE to the 2nd century CE. Based on the chemical composition, India produced its own glass rather than importing it from the Near East or China.

By Augusthaiho - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=78022227

China was slow to adopt glass, preferring ceramics and metal working. The first evidence of glass is from the Warring States period (475-221 BCE), though it remained rare and mostly beads and imported rather than locally produced. During the Han Dynasty (206 BCE-220 CE), local glass production began and importation decreased greatly. After the Han Dynasty, glass production decreased until the 4th and 5th centuries CE.

[mikeepoo]

5,500-Year-Old Sumerian Star Map“For over 150 years scientists have tried to solve the mystery of a controversial cuneiform clay tablet that indicates the so-called Köfel’s impact event was observed in ancient times. The circular stone-cast tablet was recovered from the 650 BC underground library of King Ashurbanipal in Nineveh, Iraq in the late 19th century. Long thought to be an Assyrian tablet, computer analysis has matched it with the sky above Mesopotamia in 3300 BC and proves it to be of much more ancient Sumerian origin. The tablet is an “Astrolabe,” the earliest known astronomical instrument. It consists of a segmented, disk-shaped star chart with marked units of angle measure inscribed upon the rim. 

[alighixri]

i need everyone to see this mesopotamian spell to get your baby to sleep from the library of Ashurbanipal ...people have always been the same, parent have always tried to find ways to get their children to sleep 🥹