Cuneiform Texts in the National Museum of Denmark (Volume 51). This item is unavailable.Cuneiform Texts in the National Museum of Denmark (Volume 51)

This book is the first complete catalogue of cuneiform tablets and inscriptions at the National Museum of Denmark and includes the publication of more than one hundred previously unpublished manuscripts. The cuneiform tablet collection, which the museum acquired over more than a century, reflects the long-standing Danish interest in the cultural heritage of ancient Iraq, Syria and Iran. Also included are a number of cuneiform tablets that were excavated during the Danish archaeological campaigns in Hama (Syria).

The catalogue itself is the result of a four-year project called Hidden Treasures: Cuneiform Texts at the National Museum of Denmark, co-funded by the Carlsberg Foundation, the Augustinus Foundation, the Edubba Foundation and the University of Copenhagen. The project was a collaboration between the National Museum and the Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies of the University of Copenhagen, with the goal to fully catalogue and digitize for the first time the entire collection of written artefacts inscribed with the cuneiform writing system, one of the earliest scripts to ever be devised. The digital catalogue and images are now made available on the website of the Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (CDLI).

The manuscripts and inscriptions catalogued and published here range in date from the middle of the third millennium up until the late first millennium BCE, covering almost the entire timespan of cuneiform cultures. It includes newly identified historical, legal, administrative, literary and religious texts from three millennia of cuneiform cultures and thus reflects a wide array of time periods, languages and genres.

Troels Pank Arbøll holds a PhD in Assyriology from the University of Copenhagen (2017), where he is now Associate Professor. His research focuses on medicine in ancient Mesopotamia, and he is PI on the research project From Catastrophe to Culture. Nicole Brisch is professor of Assyriology at the University of Hamburg, where she is also a member of the Cluster of Excellence Understanding Written Artefacts. She has previously held posts at the Universities of Cambridge and Copenhagen. Christian Halvgaard, mag.art. (MA) in History of Religions with a special focus on Ancient Near Eastern languages and religions, has previously published a number of Ur III tablets in the National Museum. He is currently a lecturer at Himmelev Gymnasium, teaching Religious Studies and Latin. Anne Haslund Hansen is a Senior Researcher and curator at the Collection of Classical and Near Eastern Antiquities, National Museum of Denmark. She holds a PhD from the University of Copenhagen and specializes in the history of museums, archives and scientific expeditions c. 1700–1950. Ulla Koch has a PhD in Assyriology from the University of Copenhagen (1999). She has written numerous books and articles on ancient Mesopotamia and its religions, including Babylonian Liver Omens (CNI Publications 25, 2000), and she is one of the few researchers worldwide whose research focuses on Mesopotamian astrology and divination. Seraina Nett holds a PhD in Assyriology from the University of Copenhagen and has held positions in Copenhagen and Uppsala. Her research focuses on Mesopotamian social and economic history and digital approaches to the ancient world. Rasmus Johan Aarslev, PhD in Assyriology from the University of Copenhagen (2023), is an independent researcher. His research focuses on economy and animal husbandry in the Neo-Babylonian Period.