Latest news with #Euphrates
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
'Classic' Hymn Deciphered From Ancient Babylonian Library
At its peak some 3,000 years ago, the ancient Mesopotamian city of Babylon was the largest metropolis on Earth. Renowned for their literacy, the city's residents left behind stacks of cuneiform tablets in the Sippar Library. While many of the ancient records remain, their fractured nature requires a painstaking effort in solving the world's hardest jigsaw puzzle. Assyriologists Anmar Fadhil, from the University of Baghdad, and Enrique Jiménez, from Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, have now found a 250-line hymn in praise of the ancient city by comparing text scattered across numerous fragments on tablets. "It's a fascinating hymn that describes Babylon in all its majesty and gives insights into the lives of its inhabitants," Jiménez explains. Related: "It was written by a Babylonian who wanted to praise his city. The author describes the buildings in the city, but also how the waters of the Euphrates bring the spring and green the fields. This is all the more spectacular as surviving Mesopotamian literature is sparing in its descriptions of natural phenomena." The hymn also reveals details about Babylonian women, of whom little else is known. "The passage has great importance for understanding the roles played by the various classes of priestesses: ugbakkātu, nadâtu, and qašdātu," Fadhil and Jiménez write. "The priestesses are particularly virtuous but, in contrast to the active role of men in protecting the helpless, the main virtue praised in women is devotion and discretion." By digitizing Babylon's cuneiform text fragments, the team traced copies of the hymn across 20 tablets from the 7th to 2nd or 1st centuries BCE; a process that, according to Jiménez, previously would have taken decades. This process even allowed them to piece together parts of the hymn that were missing from the first tablet. "Using our AI-supported platform, we managed to identify 30 other manuscripts that belong to the rediscovered hymn," he says. "The hymn was copied by children at school. It's unusual that such a popular text in its day was unknown to us before now." With the same hymn being found on so many clay tablets, the researchers think the hymn may be a 'classic', one students may have even committed to memory as part of their education. Read a translated excerpt of the hymn below: "The Euphrates is her river – established by wise lord Nudimmud – It quenches the lea, saturates the canebrake, Disgorges its waters into lagoon and sea, Its fields burgeon with herbs and flowers, Its meadows, in brilliant bloom, sprout barley, From which, gathered, sheaves are stacked, Herds and flocks lie on verdant pastures, Wealth and splendor – what befit mankind – Are bestowed, multiplied, and regally granted." The research is published in Iraq. Related News Ancient Neanderthal 'Fat Factory' Reveals How Advanced They Really Were US Teen Drivers Admit to Looking at Their Phones For 21% of Every Trip Oldest Egyptian DNA Reveals Secrets of Elite Potter From Pyramid Era Solve the daily Crossword
Arab News
14-07-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
Iraq plans to build 10 dams to harvest desert rains, as drought displaces 10,000 families in Dhi Qar
LONDON: Iraq has announced plans to build 10 dams to harvest water in desert areas, as part of an urgent strategy to boost water security amid dwindling supplies. The effects of climate change and the construction of dams in neighboring countries, including Turkiye, have significantly affected water levels of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which are vital lifelines for Iraqis. The Iraqi minister of water resources, Awn Dhiab Abdullah, said on Monday that the dams would store floodwater and rainwater in the desert to build up strategic reserves, especially in provinces lacking in surface-water resources. 'The shortage the country is experiencing is the most dangerous in its history, forcing 12 provinces to rely exclusively on groundwater to cover their various needs,' he said. Dhi Qar, which is in southern Iraq, has experienced one of its worst summers on record, with severe water shortages and drought forcing nearly 10,000 families in rural areas to abandon their homes and migrate to urban areas. Abdullah said that more than half of Iraq's desert region relies on groundwater supplies. He emphasized the importance of water-harvesting projects and the need to reduce dependence on traditional sources.
Yahoo
10-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Syria, Kurds and US discuss Kurdish reintegration in high-level talks
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa hosted Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) Commander Mazloum Abdi and US Special Envoy to Syria Thomas Barrack to discuss the reintegration of Kurdish-held areas into the Syrian state, Syrian and Kurdish sources said. The talks could lead to the reshaping of the political landscape in post-war Syria. Sources close to the Kurdish-led SDF told dpa the delegation went to Damascus to discuss implementing the March 10 agreement signed with the Syrian government. The deal outlines terms for restoring state authority in north-eastern Syria, which is mainly controlled by the Kurds. The delegation also included Ilham Ahmed and Fawza Youssef, representing the Kurdish Autonomous Administration. In an interview with the Kurdish Rudaw Media Network, US envoy Barrack described the Syrian government as showing "incredible enthusiasm" for unifying institutions under the banner of "one state, one nation, one army, one government." He criticized the SDF for its pace of engagement, stating: "I think SDF has been slow in accepting and negotiating and moving towards that, and my advice to them is to speed that." "There is only one road and that road is to Damascus," Barrack said, adding: "We are running out of time.' Syrian government sources told dpa that Barrack informed Damascus that all SDF forces will withdraw from east of the Euphrates River by August 17. The talks focused on dismantling parallel institutions and integrating local governance into national structures, the sources said. Accord to reunite Syria In March, the US-backed SDF reached a landmark agreement with Syria's new leadership. It deal calls for the integration of all civil and military institutions in north-east Syria under central government authority. This includes border crossings, airports, and key oil and gas fields. The SDF had led the ground campaign to drive out Islamic State from its last footholds in Syria in 2019. The agreement follows years of tension over Kurdish autonomy and is seen as a significant step toward national reconciliation after more than a decade of civil war. Turkey considers the SDF a terrorist group due to its ties to the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), complicating regional dynamics.
IOL News
07-07-2025
- General
- IOL News
Transforming the Taklimakan: Reyhan Ehmet's Journey from Childhood Dreams to Desert Tourism
A dance performance is staged in a desert tourism site in Makit. Image: Photo by Liu Le "As a child, my dream was to escape Makit and distance myself from the Taklimakan Desert," recalled Reyhan Ehmet. Born in 2001 in Makit county, Kashgar prefecture in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, Reyhan remembers a childhood dominated by sandy landscapes. "Spring rarely brought greenery—instead, everything indoors and outdoors was shrouded in a yellow haze, with the acrid taste of sand lingering in the air," she added. Makit County, surrounded by the Taklimakan Desert on three sides, spans an area where 90% of its land is desert. After graduating from university, Reyhan worked in Ningbo, east China's Zhejiang province. In February 2024, she returned to her hometown and was stunned by its transformation, prompting her to settle there permanently. "Coming back, I now realize that we can manage, develop, and make good use of the Taklimakan Desert," she said. Along the road from the county seat into the desert, a vast greenbelt of thriving trees extends for dozens of kilometers. This constitutes part of a 3,046-kilometer sand-blocking barrier encircling the Taklimakan, which Makit County has cultivated as its primary ecological defense system. Since 2012, over 3 million residents have participated in Makit's desertification control initiatives, resulting in the creation of 1.176 million mu (approximately 78,400 hectares) of desert reclamation projects, including 460,000 mu of shelterbelt forests. To date, more than 260 million trees have been planted, including diversiform-leaved poplars, Xanthoceras sorbifolium, Euphrates poplars, Russian olives, tamarisks, and saxauls. "The Taklimakan Desert I see today is unrecognizable from the desert of my childhood," Reyhan said. The shift extends beyond environmental recovery to a broader cultural shift in how locals perceive development, prioritising sustainability over exploitation. "Many tourists from outside want to experience the desert up close," said Wang Jiangpeng, deputy director of the Makit County bureau of culture, sports, radio, television and tourism. While some visitors did come in the past, inadequate tourism facilities meant most only snapped photos at the desert's edge before leaving. In recent years, however, the county has revitalised its infrastructure and visitor services thanks to strong support from local governments, enterprises, and community stakeholders. This has boosted both its reputation and capacity to accommodate growing numbers of tourists. "Last year alone, we received 400,000 tourists, and we anticipate surpassing 500,000 this year. Desert tourism is becoming a key driver of the county's economic growth," said Wang. Encouraged by the boom in desert tourism, Reyhan decided to stay in Makit and joined a tourism development company. She now leads tourists on in-depth desert excursions deep into the Taklimakan. Though she grew up on the desert's fringes, Reyhan never imagined it could evolve into such a lively destination. During peak season, most tourists arrive around sunset. After trying out desert off-road driving and other activities, they return to the campsite to enjoy local song and dance performances and experience traditional flatbread-making. By night, they gaze at the desert's star-strewn sky, and at dawn, they climb towering dunes to witness the sunrise. Even in the off-season, the camp is far from quiet. Tender green branches sprout from desert poplars, and Reyhan has "hosted" visits from curious jerboas and fluffy little foxes. One time, a colleague excitedly told her that a rare yellow sheep had appeared near the campsite. The desert tourism area sits next to a populus euphratica forest park and the Tangwang Lake National Wetland Park in Makit. "Tourism development must not compromise the desert's ecosystem, so we incorporated protective measures from the very beginning," Reyhan said. Alongside expending water, electricity, and internet infrastructure to the campsite, they also built nearby facilities for wastewater treatment and waste management facilities to ensure no waste is left in the desert. Grabbing a handful of fine sand, she let it fall onto her pants, then gave them a shake - the sand was so clean that her pants were spotless again. "The sand here is very clean, and we must take good care of it," Reyhan said. "For Makit, desert tourism brings jobs and increases incomes. By balancing desert conservation, ecological restoration, and sustainable development, we've forged a model that harmonizes environmental protection with economic progress," said Wang Faqiang, deputy head of Makit county. "Desert tourism is a rich resource. As China's largest desert, the Taklimakan is expected to draw more and more visitors through the integrated model of 'desert control + industry + employment + tourism,'" Wang Faqiang added.
Daily Mail
02-07-2025
- General
- Daily Mail
Hymn of Babylon is pieced together after 2,100 YEARS: Scientists use AI to reconstruct ancient song
A hymn dedicated to the ancient city of Babylon has been discovered after 2,100 years. Sung to the god Marduk, patron deity of the great city, the poem describes Babylon's flowing rivers, jewelled gates, and 'bathed priests' in stunning detail. Although the song was lost to time after Alexander the Great captured the city, fragments of clay tablets survived in the ruins of Sippar, a city 40 miles to the North. In a process that would have taken 'decades' to complete by hand, researchers used AI to piece together 30 different tablet pieces and recover the lost hymn. Originally 250 lines long, scientists have been able to translate a third of the original cuneiform text. These lines reveal a uniquely rich and detailed description of aspects of Babylonian life that had never been recorded before. Lead researcher Professor Enrique Jiménez, of Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU), told MailOnline that the hymn's literary quality is 'exceptional'. 'It's meticulously structured, with each section flowing seamlessly into the next,' he said. The hymn begins with grand praise to the god Marduk, calling him the 'architect of the universe'. The poem's author then turns to the city of Babylon, describing it as a rich paradise of abundance. The hymn writes: 'Like the sea, (Babylon) proffers her yield, like a garden of fruit, she flourishes in her charms, like a wave, her swell brings her bounties rolling in.' There are also descriptions of the river Euphrates, which still runs through modern-day Iraq, and its floodplains upon which 'herds and flocks lie on verdant pastures'. However, as Professor Jiménez points out, the hymn also gives a unique insight into Babylonian morality. Professor Jiménez: 'The hymn reflects ideals the Babylonians valued, such as respect for foreigners and protection of the vulnerable.' The hymn praises priests who do not 'humiliate' foreigners, free prisoners, and offer 'succor and favor' to orphans. Likewise, the poem gives some striking details about the lives of women in Babylon who are rarely mentioned elsewhere. 'For example, it reveals that one group of priestesses acted as midwives—a role unattested in other sources,' says Professor Jiménez. The poem describes these priestesses as 'cloistered women who, with their skill, nourish the womb with life'. What makes this discovery particularly exciting is how important the poem appears to have been to the Babylonians. Babylonians recorded information in a writing system called cuneiform, which involved pressing a sharpened reed into soft clay to make triangular marks. Even after Babylon was conquered in 331 BC, many of these clay tablets have survived until the present day. Excavations at the city of Sippar have yielded hundreds of clay tablets which, according to legends, were placed there by Noah to hide them from the floodwaters. These fragments show that the hymn was being used in Babylonian schools as an educational tool for around 1,000 years. Professor Jiménez believes that the poem was originally written sometime around 1500-1300, making it one of the earliest long poems from Babylon. The oldest surviving version of the text comes from a fragment belonging to a school dating to the seventh century BC. However, the tablets from Sippar show that the poem was still being copied out by children in schools right up to the last days of Babylon in 100 BC - 1,400 years after it was composed. That is the equivalent of children today learning about a poem written around 700 AD, such as the Old English poem Beowulf. The researchers say that this importance would have put the Hymn to Babylon alongside the Epic of Gilgamesh, the oldest known long-form poem in human history. Professor Jiménez says that, although the hymn was written later than the Epic of Gilgamesh, both would have 'circulated side by side for centuries'. Unlike the Epic of Gilgamesh, the researchers believe that the Hymn to Babylon was written by a single author rather than by collecting traditional texts over time. Although this author's name is currently unknown, Professor Jiménez remains hopeful that this may change in the future. He says: 'We have been digitising the British Museum's cuneiform collection over the last few years and discovered previously unknown author names, so we may yet identify the hymn's creator in the future.' Excerpts from The Hymn to Babylon Like the sea, (Babylon) proffers her yield, Like a garden of fruit, she flourishes in her charms, Like a wave, her swell brings her bounties rolling in. Marduk's star, delightful, precious sun, is her auspicious sign, Wherever the sun (is), is her gate, the distant heavens. Imgur-Enlil is her primeval wall - the mountain of the just, Alulu is her king - the father of all generations. The Euphrates is her river – established by wise lord Nudimmud - It quenches the lea, saturates the canebrake, Disgorges its waters into lagoon and sea, Its fields burgeon with herbs and flowers, Its meadows, in brilliant bloom, sprout barley, From which, gathered, sheaves are stacked, Herds and flocks lie on verdant pastures, Wealth and splendor - what befit mankind - Are bestowed, multiplied, and regally granted ... Bathed priests of Ištarān, pure priests of Šamaš, Buḫlû-priests of Šušinak, Nippureans of Enlil - The foreigners among them they do not humiliate. The humble they protect, their weak they support, Under their care, the poor and destitute can thrive. To the orphan they offer succor and favor, The prisoner they set free, the captive they release (even) at the cost of a silver talent, With the absent person they share the inheritance, Piously observing, they return kindness. ... (Their) women who have become masters in their duties: High priestesses who keep (their) vow to their bridegrooms, Cloistered women who, with their skill, nourish the womb with life Holy women who cleanse with pure water. hey keep the prohibitions and adhere to what is sacred, Kneeling in prayer, armed with a supplication, Reverent and vigilant, mindful of good works, They visit the sanctuaries, seeking life. Skilled in benevolence, they act with propriety. They (the women) are the cows of all Babylon, the herds of Ištar, They (the men) are the ones freed by Marduk.
