About cdli:wiki

Directly linked to the Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative and born with it, cdli:wiki is now a collaborative project of members of the French CNRS team ArScAn-HAROC (Nanterre), and staff and students in the Faculty of Oriental Studies at the University of Oxford, with contributors in several different countries, involved in researches in history of the ancient Near East. In 2015-2019, the cdli:wiki has received funding by the Cluster (LabEx) Pasts in the Present through the project AssyrOnline: Digital Humanities and Assyriologie.

Adossé au programme international Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative et né avec lui, cdli:wiki est désormais un projet d’encyclopédie en ligne et d'outils de recherche assyriologique, qui fait collaborer des membres de l’équipe française du CNRS ArScAn-HAROC (Nanterre), et le staff et les étudiants de la Faculty of Oriental Studies de l'Université d'Oxford, avec les contributeurs dans plusieurs autres pays, engagés dans des recherches sur l'histoire du Proche-Orient ancien. En 2015-2019, le projet cdli:wiki a bénéficié d'un financement par le LabEx Les Passés dans le Présent dans le cadre du programme intitulé “AssyrOnline: Humanités numériques et assyriologie”.

Please note that the tools and main encyclopedic articles can be accessed through the menu on the left. Important tools such as lists of year names and eponyms are found under the section “Tools”, sub-section “Chronology & Dates”. Bibliographical ressources, such as Abbreviations for Assyriology, are found under “Bibliographical Tools”.

Assyriology is the study of the languages, history, and culture of the people who used the ancient writing system called cuneiform. Cuneiform was used primarily in an area called the Near East, centred on Mesopotamia (modern Iraq and eastern Syria) where cuneiform was invented, but including the Northern Levant (Western Syria and Lebanon), parts of Anatolia, and western Iran. The sources for Assyriology are all archaeological, and include both inscribed and uninscribed objects. Most Assyriologists focus on the rich textual record from the ancient Near East, and specialise in either the study of language, literature, or history of the ancient Near East.

Assyriology began as an academic discipline with the recovery of the monuments of ancient Assyria, and the decipherment of cuneiform, in the middle of the 19th century. Large numbers of archaeological objects, including texts, were brought to museums in Europe and later the US, following the early excavations of Nineveh, Kalhu, Babylon, Girsu, Assur and so forth. Today Assyriology is studied in universities across the globe, both as an undergraduate and a graduate subject, and knowledge from the ancient Near East informs students of numerous other disciplines such as the History of Science, Archaeology, Classics, Biblical studies and more.

more

• Late Uruk Period

  Late Uruk Period * A. Falkenstein, Archaische Texte aus Uruk (Archaische Texte aus Uruk 1; Berlin-Leipzig 1936) * M. Green/H. J. Nissen, Zeichenliste der Archaischen Texte aus Uruk (ATU 2; Berlin 1987) * R. K. Englund/H. J. Nissen, Die lexikalischen Listen der archaischen Texte aus Uruk (ATU 3; Berlin 1992)
• Proto-Elamite

  Proto-Elamite Proto-Elamite is the last un-deciphered writing system from the Ancient Near East with a substantial number of sources (more than 1600 published texts). It was used for a relatively short period around 3000 BC across what is today Iran. Proto-Elamite is a derived writing system originating from the Uruk invention of writing in southern Mesopotamia during the middle of the 4th millennium BC. Scribes in Susa in southwestern Iran took over a majority of the numerical signs as well as…
• What is Proto-Elamite?

  What is Proto-Elamite? The first indigenous writing system from Iran is called proto-Elamite, it was long thought of as a precursor to a (hypothetical) indigenous Elamite writing system. Proto-Elamite, as well as Linear-Elamite, remains largely un-deciphered. At present it is idle speculation to postulate a relationship between the two writing systems.
• Rulers of Mesopotamia

  Rulers of Mesopotamia This section of cdli:wiki lists rulers within their dynasties, and give as far as possible lists of their regnal years. Each dynasty or section is introduced by a short discussion of the system of dating used and the reign of the ruler or dynasty.