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  • Perfect use of AI, and a huge discovery really. Getting these windows into actual everyday life of the past is to me the most fascinating aspect of archaeology.

  • A vivid excerpt reads:

    “The Euphrates is her river—established by wise lord Nudimmud—
    It quenches the lea, saturates the canebrake,
    Disgorges its waters into lagoon and sea…
    Herds and flocks lie on verdant pastures, Wealth and splendor—what befit mankind—
    Are bestowed, multiplied, and regally granted.”

    Even more revolutionary are the passages that describe the role of Babylonian women, specifically as priestesses

    (nothing...?)

    :-(

    • (Their) women who have become masters in their duties:
      High priestesses who keep (their) vow to their bridegrooms,
      Cloistered women who, with their skill, nourish the womb with life,
      Holy women who cleanse with pure water.
      They keep the prohibitions and adhere to what is sacred,
      Kneeling in prayer, armed with a supplication,
      Reverent and vigilant, mindful of good works,
      They visit the sanctuaries, seeking life.
      Skilled in benevolence, they act with propriety.
      [They (the women) are the cows] of all Babylon, the herds of Ištar,
      They (the men) are the ones freed by Marduk.
      He (scil. Marduk) will never permit them to be robbed, nor to be slandered.

      From the PDF linked on this Cambridge University Press page. The CUP themselves only included one line from that section.