Hammurabi by Gabriele B., on Flickr
Posted on 10/01/2010 7:06:36 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Almost 2,000 years after its last native speakers disappeared... [t]he recordings include excerpts from some of the earliest known works of world literature, dating back to the first years of the second millennium BC... readings of Babylonian poems, myths and other texts in the original tongue... -- available online for free at www.speechisfire.com -- are given by Dr. Worthington's fellow Assyriologists. Babylonian is one of two variants (or dialects) of Akkadian, the other being Assyrian. Akkadian became the 'lingua franca' of the Near East around, until its use began to decline around the 8th century BC. The last Akkadian cuneiform document dates to the 1st century AD. Dr Worthington's hope is that having heard the sound of the extinct language -- the earliest attested Semitic language, some listeners will be sufficiently intrigued to investigate further, and perhaps end up studying the history, language or culture of the period... The existing collection focuses on poetry in particular. Most of this is known from cuneiform inscriptions found on clay tablets in the area that was once Mesopotamia... Beyond literature and poetry, the site has also contains other important documents from the period. Part of the Codex Hammurabi, for example, the ancient law code from 1790 BC, can be both read and heard -- although you are (not yet) treated to all 281 of the laws and parallel punishments Hammurabi had listed... Thirty recordings have been released so far and more are currently being prepared.
(Excerpt) Read more at heritage-key.com ...
Hammurabi by Gabriele B., on Flickr
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Is this not what most of Civilized Society’s Laws are based on?
Thought you would want to hear what Akkadian sounded like!
Fascinating - thanks for posting that.
bump!
for later
Bookmarked this site. Thanks so much for posting this!
Without a verified unbroken chain of related evidence, that's just conjecture; otherwise known as an educated guess, AKA as maybe, maybe not.
“Without a verified unbroken chain of related evidence, that’s just conjecture; otherwise known as an educated guess, AKA as maybe, maybe not. “
If all you had was written Chinese, how would you get to even an arguably valid spoken Chinese?
How do they know what it sounded like, if the last native speakers died out 2,000 years ago, when we can’t even keep spoken English the same for 200 years (New Englander vs. Southerner, vs. Valley Girl, vs. etc...)?
you always have the most interesting posts.. Thanks again SunkenCiv
save for later
It's the same module everywhere on the planet.
Elaborations occur when the need to accommodate large groups comes into existence.
There are a number of variations on a theme ~ you can read about them in history ~ and then there are the degrees to which the leadership principle is used to allow some individuals to abuse others.
Some societies create a nobility that suppresses the broad masses ~ actually, almost all societies do that. 99.999% of known history is involved with the comings and goings of nobles.
0.001% of known history concerns a different form ~ for example, our own.
Hammurabi's Code was a public brief of the thoughts of the King and his nobles. It's purpose was to set the bounds of acceptable behavior, and to announce suitable punishments.
It was noted back during the Kelo v. New London CT discussions that the the USSC's vote to allow New London to force homeowners off their land to make way for other homeowners was prohibited in Hammurabi's code, and enforced with the death penalty for public officials who did that sort of thing
Later Hebraic Law and an ancient Jewish tradition paralleled Hammurabi's code perfectly.
So, no, Hammurabi's code isn't the basis of all our laws ~ he sought to control theft and official corruption ~ our courts don't care.
The Code of Hammurabi, from 1 to 282
Translated by L.W. King (1910)
Edited by Richard Hooker
http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/MESO/CODE.HTM
I thought that link looked familiar.
Thanks for the link.
I always thought Akkadian sounded like a french guy with marbles in his mouth.
Excellent post. Freedom is fleeting as history proves.
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