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Cracking Ancient Codes: Cuneiform Writing - with Irving Finkel

The Royal Institution · lecture · Watch on YouTube

Language & linguisticsWorld history

What it is

Irving Finkel of the British Museum lectures at the Royal Institution on the invention and decipherment of cuneiform writing in Mesopotamia, and why it is so hard to translate.

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN users recommend it as a delightful, well-told account of how cuneiform developed and was decoded.

  • 3 people recommended it
  • 5 different months
  • 2 strong recommendations
  • first 2020, last 2024

What HN commenters said

  1. “Irving Finkel's lectures are marvelous.”

    Delightful, polished lecture on the decipherment of cuneiform.

    davee5, 2020-02 · Strong recommendation · in “Board Games of the Ancient World”

  2. “Highly recommend Prof Irving Fink's talk to Royal Institution on the 3,000 year development of cuneiform”

    Covers cuneiform's 3,000 year development, reading and decipherment.

    photochemsyn, 2023-03 · Strong recommendation · in “Where Did Writing Come From?”

  3. “Here[1] is a video covering how cuneiform (the writing system) was deciphered”

    Covers how cuneiform was deciphered.

    josefx, 2022-03 · Recommendation · in “Sumerian dog jokes, or the difficulty of translating dead languages”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: cuneiform, irving finkel, mesopotamia, writing systems, ancient languages

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