andrew phillips

tukultu, Akkadian: trust, help. ina tukulti Enlil u [Marduk] liptī u tāḫīzī [līšir] ‘with the help of Enlil and [Marduk] [may] my work and my learning [thrive]’ (CAD T 463)

(Syriac'd) ܐܢ ܢܬܚܙܐ ܫܘܢܪܐ ܐܘܟܡܐ ܒܒܝܬܐ ܕܐ̄ܢܫ ܚ̇ܙܝܐ ܐܪܥܐ ܗ̇ܝ ܠܛܒܬܐ܀ /ʔen neṯḥzē šunnårå ʔukkåmå ḇ-baytå ḏ-nåš, ḥåzyå ʔarʕå håy l-ṭåḇtå/

šurānu ṣalmu, Akkadian, ‘black cat’. 𒁹 𒊓𒀀 𒈪 𒀸 𒂍 𒇽 𒅆 𒆳 𒁉 𒅆𒂟 𒅆 šumma šurānu ṣalmu ina bīt amēli innamir, mātu šī dumqa immar ‘if a black cat is seen in someone’s house, that land will see good fortune’ (Šumma Alu, tablet 45).

šurānu ṣalmu, Akkadian, ‘black cat’. 𒁹 𒊓𒀀 𒈪 𒀸 𒂍 𒇽 𒅆 𒆳 𒁉 𒅆𒂟 𒅆 šumma šurānu ṣalmu ina bīt amēli innamir, mātu šī dumqa immar ‘if a black cat is seen in someone’s house, that land will see good fortune’ (Šumma Alu, tablet 45).

Just launched! 🎉 Mediterranean History Bites - Archaeology from the French Revolution to the End of World War II, a new podcast series where I explore the ideas, ambitions and political realities that turned the Mediterranean into a laboratory for antiquities legislation. 1/2

30,000 years ago, Ice Age Europe was more connected than we thought 🧬 A woman from Isturitz Cave (France) carried both western and eastern European ancestry, and #DNA from cave sediment shows western ancestry in Iberia survived the Last Glacial Maximum. 🏺 New in @science.org Advances: ⤵️

Just wanted to add that if you think learning to read Hittite would be cool, but feel very daunted by the prospect, good news! Hittite works pretty much along the same model as Greek, Latin, or German (or most Slavic languages), but has way fewer endings to learn! The basic vocabulary is smaller!

Israel has committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Occupied Palestinian Territory amid continuing genocide in Gaza, UN Commission of Inquiry finds.

Please share and sign: www.universitiesforjustice.eu/sign/ > We call on you, as our responsible university leadership, to join and extend this momentum by: > 1. demanding the suspension of Israel’s participation in Horizon Europe and the EU-Israel Association Agreement;

Israeli strike on Gaza university kills three

Israeli forces release Palestinian 'doctor of the poor ' with visible signs of abuse - https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israeli-forces-release-palestinian-doctor-poor-visible-signs-abuse

How many of these endangered characters can you identify? I think a prize might be awarded—let’s say the gorgeous 2027 Endangered Alphabets calendar! While you're at it, please back my Kickstarter at www.kickstarter.com/projects/end... !

“a giant interdisciplinary team analyzed 300 ancient horse genomes from 121 archaeological sites in Eurasia…they conclude that the ancestor of all modern horses made its first appearance by 4200 years ago in the western Eurasian steppe” www.science.org/content/arti...

So this story of ‘Xī and Hé’ (羲和) being punished comes from the Book of Documents, which mentions an event interpreted as an eclipse (乃季秋月朔, 辰弗集于房). Several dates have been suggested by researchers, though the one for 2137 BCE (an annular eclipse over China) seems to have gained the most acceptance

A large number of military and police dogs have been sent to Israel by the Netherlands

UK says schoolchildren shouldn’t wave Palestine flags. Ukraine flags are fine though - https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/uk-says-schoolchildren-shouldnt-wave-palestine-flags-ukraine-flags-are

#New on #OCIANA - A desperate and emotional #Safaitic plea by a man for his sick wife. He calls upon the goddess Allāt to give life (ʾḥy) back to his wife (mrʾt-h) who is sick (sqmt) and emaciated (ḫsft), and begs her for deliverance (ḫlṣt) Find more: ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions...

In case you missed the launch yesterday, I'm now fundraising for my latest and most original book. Details, excerpts and samples of the remarkable artwork are at www.kickstarter.com/projects/end... Please share, and please back me if you can!

Obsidian amulet (early 1st millennium BCE) depicting Lamaštu (𒀭𒈚𒃵𒈨), ‘daughter of the god Anu’, a feared lion-headed demon who was cast down from heaven. She roams the earth preying on newborns and pregnant women. The reverse has an incantation in Sumerian calling on various gods to exorcise her

Her name is Mariam Ghanem. She is two and a half years old. At 4 a.m. today, she watched her mother being consumed by flames following an Israeli strike. Mariam miraculously survived the strike. Her father was slaughtered by Israel just a few months ago.

In the very bottom margin of two pages, in manuscript CFMM 00312, an anonymous person left an intriguing note. This note became the start of a investigative journey for Dr. Vevian Zaki. Join Vevian as she follows this manuscript's travels from Egypt to Turkey: https://bit.ly/3j8Ne2g

Jonathan Burman went to school in Manchester before joining Israeli army and serving in Gaza, @declassifieduk.org finds

Read the original research in Antiquity 🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...

So my book now has a cover, featuring one of my favorite archival images. Forthcoming from the University of Pittsburgh Press in 2027!

New discovery: A royal archive with 184 tablets unearthed at the Hittite settlement of Samuha, in present-day Sivas/Türkiye, sheds new light on the Hittite Empire, revealing records of a deadly epidemic, military threats and royal life dating back 3,400 years. www.dailysabah.com/life/hittite...

Some reasons why you should read about Beja: - Uses more internal morphology than any other Cushitic language; - Earliest recorded Cushitic language (in an ostracon of ~6th c. AD) - Classification still controversial - is it really Cushitic, or a separate branch of Afroasiatic?

👉NEW -- Britain helped to kill ‘Zionism is Racism’ resolution at the UN by John McEvoy Exclusive: UK foreign secretary boasted about “mounting a world wide lobbying exercise” against landmark motion. www.declassifieduk.org/britain-help...

For 700,000 children, tent classrooms are now the closest thing to school. But these cannot restore the education, routine, and community they once had.

Satellite images leave no room for denial: Israel is committing genocide. 199,500 structures across Gaza damaged or destroyed since Sept 2023. Homes, schools, hospitals, places of worship, erased on record.

(in 12-syll. Syriac verse) ܟܕ ܛܥ̇ܝܢ ܡ̣ܢ ܡܠܝܠܘܬܐ ܡܝܘܬܬܐ ܟܠܗ̇ ܡܡܛܝܢ ܒܢ̈ܝܢܫܐ ܐ̄ܚܪܝܬ ܠܪܢܝܐ ܫܡܝܢܐ ܪܢܝܐ ܗ̇ܘ ܕܠܡܠܝܠܘܬܐ ܦܟܝܗ ܗ̄ܘ ܘܦܩܪ܀ /kaḏ ṭåʕēn men mliluṯå måyottå kull-åh mmaṭṭēn bnay-nåšå ḥråyaṯ l-renyå šmayyånå renyå haw d-la-mliluṯå p̄akkih-u wa-p̄qar/

Despite the long tradition of Assyrian #archaeology, most research has focused on palaces, temples and other elite buildings #WaybackWednesday A new project takes a different approach, exploring the lives of everyday people in Assyrian cities. 🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy... 🏺 #Archaeology

Minimalistic fresco decorations in a #Roman villa beneath the Basilica of San Sebastiano, c. 235 AD. Join us on Exploring Art History: ideasroadshow.substack.com 🗃️ #arthistory #skystorians 🏺 #medievalsky #archaeology

Wie klingt Akkadisch? 👂 In der Reihe "Klang der alten Sprachen" der Akademienunion ist gerade unser Beitrag über die akkadische Sprache erschienen.

The evolution of the South Semitic script is still poorly understood. An attempt to quantify the variation and model it on a genetic tree, based on weighted features that have diagnostic value (think morphological innovations in historical linguistic terms). www.academia.edu/177870340/Al...

For Spooktober, you might enjoy a recent publication by my colleague Ali Langroudi on Jesus and his bat in Arabic and Persian sources 🦇 ancientnarrative.com/article/view...

My biggest lesson of this week: how many people didn’t understand what Zionism meant! Of course Zionism is racism, like all ethnonationalism and all colonial occupation. 🤷🏼‍♀️

And you will watch tens of thousands more die before you find a way to fight genocide and Zionism that doesn't require pissing off a lot of people.