Amanda Hills Podany

Thank you so much! I'm glad you're enjoying the book!

This article confirms that, 3,300 years ago, Cornish tin from the UK was traded all the way to the Mediterranean! This is very exciting news (and combines two of my absolute favorite things: hiking in Cornwall and researching Bronze Age trade and diplomacy!)

This letter (ARM 5 20 = LAPO 16 256) was written c. 3,800 years ago. This translated excerpt is by Jack M. Sasson. The full letter can be found in Sasson's 2015 book 'From the Mari Archives,' p. 313. See also my discussion of the letter in my 2010 book 'Brotherhood of Kings' pp. 76-80.

Akkadian cylinder seal showing a man riding an equid, among other figures. From Collon, 1987, First Impressions, image 685.

A cuneiform letter between two kings:
I must say (this) now and vent my feelings....When you placed a request with me for two horses, I indeed had them conveyed to you. Yet you... sent me 20 pounds of tin.... The value of such horses is 10 pounds of silver. But you sent me just 20 pounds of tin!

Thanks, Moudhy, that's so kind of you! Your book is a gem as well, and congratulations on its success!!

The World's Oldest Letters Podcast Episode · The Ancients · 11/27/2025 · 55m

I had fun doing this podcast episode for The Ancients about Old Babylonian letters! We discussed messengers, scribes, and even a certain copper trader of dubious repute! #eanasir #cuneiform #Mesopotamia
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

This is fascinating! Semiyarka has been found to be an ancient city in Kazakhstan, specializing in production of tin-bronze, and contemporary with the Late Bronze Age kingdoms (Kassite Babylonia, Mittani, Hatti, New Kingdom Egypt, Mycenaean Greece, etc) in the Middle East and Mediterranean.

Wow, your daughter is probably my youngest reader! Please give her my best wishes!

New in Paperback this Autumn with a variety of covers from Oxford University Press

Your favorites, now available in paperback. From sweeping histories that span continents to deep dives into our digital lives, this season’s paperback releases offer something for every kind of reader.

US: oxford.ly/4m05rMw

UK: oxford.ly/4lW1eJL

Evidence for what seems to be an engineered flood in Mesopotamia c. 2350 BCE, which "illustrates how critical infrastructure for irrigation and transportation could be deliberately exploited to exacerbate the environmental and economic impacts of warfare." #Mesopotamia @paulczimmerman.bsky.social

Proverb: etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcs..., number 3.6. Image: The Met 32.39.3, Old Babylonian plaque of two bull men flanking a tree: www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...

Almost 4,000 years before Beckett, two men were already waiting for Godot: '"I will go today" is what a herdsman says; "I will go tomorrow" is what a shepherd-boy says. "I will go" is "I will go", and the time passes.' (Sumerian proverb) #Mesopotamia #cuneiform #waitingforgodot, links in comment

Old Babylonian terra cotta plaque showing two divine male figures next to a tree

Almost 4,000 years before Beckett, two men were already been waiting for Godot: '"I will go today" is what a herdsman says; "I will go tomorrow" is what a shepherd-boy says. "I will go" is "I will go", and the time passes.' (Sumerian proverb) #Mesopotamia #cuneiform #Godot, links in comment

Translation of this and other Sumerian proverbs: etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcs...

Circular clay tablet with three lines of cuneiform text across the middle. Modern ID in ink at the bottom reads UET 6/225

"The dog understands: 'Take it!' It does not understand: 'Put it down!'" True 3,900 years ago when a young Mesopotamian scribe copied the proverb onto a round school tablet; still true today! #cuneiform #Mesopotamia #dogs Tablet: BM U.17207.77, CDLI P346305; sculpture: Louvre AO 4349, CDLI P386356

Weavers, Scribes, and Kings. Oxford University Press

What was life like for kings, priestesses, merchants, brickmakers, musicians, and weavers in the ancient Near East?

Discover their stories through the voices of real people who lived thousands of years ago. Now in paperback: global.oup.com/academic/pro...

Identifying the preserved network of irrigation canals in the Eridu region, southern Mesopotamia | Antiquity | Cambridge Core Identifying the preserved network of irrigation canals in the Eridu region, southern Mesopotamia - Volume 99 Issue 405

One of the earliest cities in southern Mesopotamia proves to have been home to a huge network of canals for about 5,000 years (though not all the canals were in use at the same time). This fascinating research was done by Jaafar Jotheri and colleagues.

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Thanks! I hope so! Mesopotamian history really is fascinating!

Felt it in Koreatown

Thanks for recommending my book! And I agree about @moudhy.bsky.social 's as well. No space aliens construct anything in either!

‘Spreadsheets of empire’: red tape goes back 4,000 years, say scientists after Iraq finds Ancient Mesopotamian stone tablets show extraordinary detail and reach of government in cradle of world civilisations

These new documents from Girsu (written on clay, of course, not stone as the URL suggests) sound fascinating! The scribes "note absolutely everything down. If a sheep dies at the very edge of the empire, it will be noted. They are obsessed with bureaucracy.”
www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

Mathematics in Ancient Iraq

Thanks! For Mesopotamian mathematics, Mathematics in Ancient Iraq by @eleanorrobson.bsky.social is a fabulous resource: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

For more details about the mercurial Rishiya, see Ziegler, N. 2011. “Music, the Work of Professionals” in Oxford Handbook of Cuneiform Culture, K. Radner and E. Robson, eds., 290-295. The image I posted is not him, but another male musician of the same era.

Terracotta plaque showing a bearded man in profile wearing a kilt and playing a harp. Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures Museum, University of Chicago-DSC07336

Rishiya, the chief musician at Mari c. 1760s BCE, served under King Yasmah-Addu. Surprisingly, he was retained by Y-A's antagonist and successor, Zimri-Lim, even though Rishiya had neglected his allocated farmland, which had been taken away from him. He must have been a terrific musician!

Research by my daughter @podanymd.bsky.social just published in @jama.com Network Open. Important work (and proud mom moment!)

Archaeologists discover first pharaoh’s tomb in Egypt in more than a century Uncovering tomb of Thutmose II hailed as most significant discovery since Tutankhamun in 1922

“The possible existence of a second, and most likely intact, tomb of Thutmose II is an astonishing possibility.”

where's Indiana Jones when you need him?

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/f...

A photo of the discovery: A chamber with a lot of debris.

New discovery: First discovery of a royal tomb since King Tutankhamun's was found over a century ago. A joint Egyptian-British archaeological team has uncovered the tomb of King Thutmose II, the last missing royal tomb of the 18th Dynasty.

english.ahram.org.eg/News/540638....

🏺 AncientEgyptBluesky

Report documents devastation of ancient city of Palmyra, a World Heritage Site, after the fall of the Assad regime Palmyra is one of the most famous sites in Syria for its extraordinary heritage and archaeological remains. Inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1980, the city saw much of its heritage destroyed du...

Sunrise at the Temple of Bel in Palmyra was one of the most beautiful sights I've ever experienced; golden Roman columns glowing against the deep blue sky, serene and seemingly timeless. This new report on the damage to Palmyra in recent years is devastating.
phys.org/news/2025-02...

That's wild. It could be!

Fascinating! Thanks!