Andrew A.N. Deloucas
@aandeloucas.com
I am a Ph.D. candidate in Assyriology at Harvard University. I write on Bronze Age cities of Mesopotamia and their civic, economic, and legal institutions.
visit me at aandeloucas.com
visit me at aandeloucas.com
Pinned
Andrew A.N. Deloucas
@aandeloucas.com
· Jun 6
aandeloucas - Conversations
Conversations
www.aandeloucas.com
Are you looking to read more about Ea-nāṣir, the Bronze Age, or Mesopotamia?
I archive many of my Bluesky threads here: www.aandeloucas.com/conversations
I archive many of my Bluesky threads here: www.aandeloucas.com/conversations
Reposted by Andrew A.N. Deloucas
To celebrate the construction of his palace, the Assyrian king, Ashurnasirpal II, held a 10 day fest for nearly 70,000 people serving 10k jars of beer like this pomegranate beer, Alappanu. youtu.be/MO0lKDNKxmE?...
How to Brew Ancient Assyrian Beer - Alappanu
YouTube video by Tasting History with Max Miller
youtu.be
December 23, 2025 at 4:07 PM
To celebrate the construction of his palace, the Assyrian king, Ashurnasirpal II, held a 10 day fest for nearly 70,000 people serving 10k jars of beer like this pomegranate beer, Alappanu. youtu.be/MO0lKDNKxmE?...
Reposted by Andrew A.N. Deloucas
Sociology established 50+yrs ago that generalists outperform specialists in fast-changing economies. That goes for ppl as well as firms.
Rapid change means you have no way to know which skills will be most useful a few years hence: best to acquire a generalist skillset, as the liberal arts offers.
Rapid change means you have no way to know which skills will be most useful a few years hence: best to acquire a generalist skillset, as the liberal arts offers.
Really interesting research showing that while ultra-specialization in a single discipline might lead to better results early in one’s career, multi-discipline training and practice pays off big time in the long run. This applies to a range of professions from scientists to athletes and more
Recent discoveries on the acquisition of the highest levels of human performance
Scientists have long debated the origins of exceptional human achievements. This literature review summarizes recent evidence from multiple domains on the acquisition of world-class performance. We re...
www.science.org
December 21, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Sociology established 50+yrs ago that generalists outperform specialists in fast-changing economies. That goes for ppl as well as firms.
Rapid change means you have no way to know which skills will be most useful a few years hence: best to acquire a generalist skillset, as the liberal arts offers.
Rapid change means you have no way to know which skills will be most useful a few years hence: best to acquire a generalist skillset, as the liberal arts offers.
Finally got these chapters written, only one left to go 🍻🍾🎂🎊💥💥💥
🎊🥳🎉
December 21, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Finally got these chapters written, only one left to go 🍻🍾🎂🎊💥💥💥
Reposted by Andrew A.N. Deloucas
20. Cuneiform
Cuneiform really describes the script's appearance, with signs composed of wedges - the topic of this post by Colton Siegmund. Mesopotamian cuneiform was logosyllabic but there have been alphabetic and alphasyllabic cuneiform scripts too.
viewsproject.wordpress.com/2024/05/28/s...
Cuneiform really describes the script's appearance, with signs composed of wedges - the topic of this post by Colton Siegmund. Mesopotamian cuneiform was logosyllabic but there have been alphabetic and alphasyllabic cuneiform scripts too.
viewsproject.wordpress.com/2024/05/28/s...
Scribbles… Chicken scratch… Nails? A look at cuneiform writing
When we writers of the Latin script think of a metaphor to describe our writing, we likely think of describing it as “chicken scratch” (ex., “Many of these are unintelligible to the untrained eye. …
viewsproject.wordpress.com
December 20, 2025 at 2:33 PM
20. Cuneiform
Cuneiform really describes the script's appearance, with signs composed of wedges - the topic of this post by Colton Siegmund. Mesopotamian cuneiform was logosyllabic but there have been alphabetic and alphasyllabic cuneiform scripts too.
viewsproject.wordpress.com/2024/05/28/s...
Cuneiform really describes the script's appearance, with signs composed of wedges - the topic of this post by Colton Siegmund. Mesopotamian cuneiform was logosyllabic but there have been alphabetic and alphasyllabic cuneiform scripts too.
viewsproject.wordpress.com/2024/05/28/s...
It'd probably look a lot like this, from Enmerkar and the lord of Aratta, lines 536-541:
"After the messenger spoke as such, the lord of Aratta received his kiln-fired tablet from him. The lord of Aratta looked at the tablet. The transmitted message was just nails, and his brow expressed anger."
"After the messenger spoke as such, the lord of Aratta received his kiln-fired tablet from him. The lord of Aratta looked at the tablet. The transmitted message was just nails, and his brow expressed anger."
you ever read a book so bad you wanna go back to mesopotamia and uninvent writing
December 21, 2025 at 3:31 AM
It'd probably look a lot like this, from Enmerkar and the lord of Aratta, lines 536-541:
"After the messenger spoke as such, the lord of Aratta received his kiln-fired tablet from him. The lord of Aratta looked at the tablet. The transmitted message was just nails, and his brow expressed anger."
"After the messenger spoke as such, the lord of Aratta received his kiln-fired tablet from him. The lord of Aratta looked at the tablet. The transmitted message was just nails, and his brow expressed anger."
Reposted by Andrew A.N. Deloucas
After the major technical difficulties last time, me and Gabriel Reynolds decided to do another Live Q&A. So, of course, the first thing that happened was that my WiFi died, and then we got audio issues.
After some editing it is now put back online!
www.youtube.com/live/vkiji1e...
After some editing it is now put back online!
www.youtube.com/live/vkiji1e...
Qur'an Manuscripts and Qur'anic Arabic: Live Q & A with Dr. Marijn van Putten!
YouTube video by Exploring the Quran and the Bible
www.youtube.com
December 19, 2025 at 3:59 PM
After the major technical difficulties last time, me and Gabriel Reynolds decided to do another Live Q&A. So, of course, the first thing that happened was that my WiFi died, and then we got audio issues.
After some editing it is now put back online!
www.youtube.com/live/vkiji1e...
After some editing it is now put back online!
www.youtube.com/live/vkiji1e...
Lots of great pieces focused around the economic history of labor and the role of temples as social, economic and religious institutions:
A new open access vol _
Serving the Gods: Artists, Craftsmen, Ritual Specialists in the Ancient World_ is out now. www.harrassowitz-verlag.de/titel_9143.a... Excited to read this but also remembering Alison Burford’s work on the craftsmen at Epidauros. wellcomecollection.org/works/t5b8zjma
Serving the Gods: Artists, Craftsmen, Ritual Specialists in the Ancient World_ is out now. www.harrassowitz-verlag.de/titel_9143.a... Excited to read this but also remembering Alison Burford’s work on the craftsmen at Epidauros. wellcomecollection.org/works/t5b8zjma
Serving the Gods: Artists, Craftsmen, Ritual Specialists in the Ancient World
Buch | Harrassowitz Verlag
www.harrassowitz-verlag.de
December 19, 2025 at 1:24 PM
Lots of great pieces focused around the economic history of labor and the role of temples as social, economic and religious institutions:
Reposted by Andrew A.N. Deloucas
Our newest post is a deep historical dive into the Mughals! I especially enjoyed going through all the manuscript paintings to find ones I thought would match the narrative the closest. Thank you to @civilization.2k.com for supporting this video
youtu.be/Kofm2qcTg54
youtu.be/Kofm2qcTg54
The Mughals in Civilization 7: A Deep Dive into Their History & Modern Legacy
YouTube video by Paisley_Trees
youtu.be
December 19, 2025 at 1:29 AM
Our newest post is a deep historical dive into the Mughals! I especially enjoyed going through all the manuscript paintings to find ones I thought would match the narrative the closest. Thank you to @civilization.2k.com for supporting this video
youtu.be/Kofm2qcTg54
youtu.be/Kofm2qcTg54
Reposted by Andrew A.N. Deloucas
We “are calling for resistance to the AI industry’s ongoing capture of higher education.” Thanks for this, @sonjadrimmer.bsky.social and Christopher Nygren.
Four Frictions: or, How to Resist AI in Education - Public Books
We are calling for resistance to the AI industry’s ongoing capture of higher education.
www.publicbooks.org
December 17, 2025 at 8:19 PM
We “are calling for resistance to the AI industry’s ongoing capture of higher education.” Thanks for this, @sonjadrimmer.bsky.social and Christopher Nygren.
Text translation is one of the most resource intensive demands on the field: traveling to collections, staying for extended periods to look at tablets in varying degrees of conditions after years of dedicated study.
It's an immense privilege of time and money that few have. We need more help.
It's an immense privilege of time and money that few have. We need more help.
this is related to what the "Never AI" folks find uncomfortable. We will, I swear, never be able to teach Akkadian to enough students to translate the tablets we have....so what now
The field of Assyriology has been moving toward automatic translation of Akkadian for over a decade because, when it does happen, it will be a game changer.
Historians are now putting money on the line to test current capabilities of machine learning. Can automatic translation finally be possible?
Historians are now putting money on the line to test current capabilities of machine learning. Can automatic translation finally be possible?
December 17, 2025 at 7:35 PM
Text translation is one of the most resource intensive demands on the field: traveling to collections, staying for extended periods to look at tablets in varying degrees of conditions after years of dedicated study.
It's an immense privilege of time and money that few have. We need more help.
It's an immense privilege of time and money that few have. We need more help.
The field of Assyriology has been moving toward automatic translation of Akkadian for over a decade because, when it does happen, it will be a game changer.
Historians are now putting money on the line to test current capabilities of machine learning. Can automatic translation finally be possible?
Historians are now putting money on the line to test current capabilities of machine learning. Can automatic translation finally be possible?
📣 Competition Launch Alert! Deep Past Challenge: Translate Akkadian to English hosted by Deep Past AI
🎯 Build an AI model that translates 4,000-year-old Old Assyrian business records into English
💰 $50,000 Prize Pool
⏰ Entry Deadline: March 23, 2026
www.kaggle.com/competitions...
🎯 Build an AI model that translates 4,000-year-old Old Assyrian business records into English
💰 $50,000 Prize Pool
⏰ Entry Deadline: March 23, 2026
www.kaggle.com/competitions...
Deep Past Challenge - Translate Akkadian to English
Bringing Bronze Age Voices Back to Life – Machine Translation of Old Assyrian Cuneiform
www.kaggle.com
December 17, 2025 at 7:03 PM
The field of Assyriology has been moving toward automatic translation of Akkadian for over a decade because, when it does happen, it will be a game changer.
Historians are now putting money on the line to test current capabilities of machine learning. Can automatic translation finally be possible?
Historians are now putting money on the line to test current capabilities of machine learning. Can automatic translation finally be possible?
Reposted by Andrew A.N. Deloucas
“Why is it my lord is silent while I wag my tail and run about like a dog?”
I’ve been left on read too many times.
A man named Ashur-resiwa is begging a superior to answer his previous 3 letters, and we can maybe all relate to both sides of this particular coin.
I’ve been left on read too many times.
A man named Ashur-resiwa is begging a superior to answer his previous 3 letters, and we can maybe all relate to both sides of this particular coin.
December 17, 2025 at 3:57 PM
“Why is it my lord is silent while I wag my tail and run about like a dog?”
I’ve been left on read too many times.
A man named Ashur-resiwa is begging a superior to answer his previous 3 letters, and we can maybe all relate to both sides of this particular coin.
I’ve been left on read too many times.
A man named Ashur-resiwa is begging a superior to answer his previous 3 letters, and we can maybe all relate to both sides of this particular coin.
Gave myself a little break from dissertation writing to answer a question on @askhistorians.bsky.social:
"Did Ashurnasirpal II's Party actually take place?"
www.reddit.com/r/AskHistori...
"Did Ashurnasirpal II's Party actually take place?"
www.reddit.com/r/AskHistori...
teakettling's comment on "Did Ashurnasirpal II's Party actually take place?"
Explore this conversation and more from the AskHistorians community
www.reddit.com
December 15, 2025 at 5:02 PM
Gave myself a little break from dissertation writing to answer a question on @askhistorians.bsky.social:
"Did Ashurnasirpal II's Party actually take place?"
www.reddit.com/r/AskHistori...
"Did Ashurnasirpal II's Party actually take place?"
www.reddit.com/r/AskHistori...
Reposted by Andrew A.N. Deloucas
unironically the median American voter position
I'm a Hammurabi Originalist (I believe prices for market items should be permanently set by a beneficent monarch from the distant past).
December 11, 2025 at 9:33 PM
unironically the median American voter position
The only thing that can improve this chapter at this point is more Dwarf Fortress
December 11, 2025 at 8:48 PM
The only thing that can improve this chapter at this point is more Dwarf Fortress
Reposted by Andrew A.N. Deloucas
#AdorableAntiquity
Now I'm all in my feels about tiny Babylonian babies slobbering all over their clay rattles.
Now I'm all in my feels about tiny Babylonian babies slobbering all over their clay rattles.
A rattle from ancient Mesopotamia, shaped like a pie crust or shell from the late third or early second millennium BCE. X-ray images show three pellets inside.
Quite a number of rattles have been unearthed in the region, some even shaped like animals.
📷 Dr K Wagensonner
Quite a number of rattles have been unearthed in the region, some even shaped like animals.
📷 Dr K Wagensonner
December 9, 2025 at 5:07 PM
#AdorableAntiquity
Now I'm all in my feels about tiny Babylonian babies slobbering all over their clay rattles.
Now I'm all in my feels about tiny Babylonian babies slobbering all over their clay rattles.
Great tweets are still being written
December 9, 2025 at 12:30 AM
Great tweets are still being written
Reposted by Andrew A.N. Deloucas
This was such a fun conversation, and we covered so much. Buying onions in 2000 BCE, the earliest named author, the courage of an enslaved mother, the legendary Gilgamesh.
Hope you enjoy it if you get a chance to listen! 🙏🏽
Hope you enjoy it if you get a chance to listen! 🙏🏽
The audio-only version of Legends and Lectures with Dr Moudhy Al-Rashid is now available on all platforms:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezsM...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezsM...
Memes and Mesopotamia
YouTube video by Michelle Franklin | Legends and Lectures
www.youtube.com
December 8, 2025 at 6:26 AM
This was such a fun conversation, and we covered so much. Buying onions in 2000 BCE, the earliest named author, the courage of an enslaved mother, the legendary Gilgamesh.
Hope you enjoy it if you get a chance to listen! 🙏🏽
Hope you enjoy it if you get a chance to listen! 🙏🏽
My favorite writer is at it again! Read and enjoy while creative writing still exists, folks:
Re-doing my publications list because there's a couple new ones, and because so many places I've been published in have shuttered! You should read the ones that still exist! Some of them are pretty good!
December 7, 2025 at 8:41 PM
My favorite writer is at it again! Read and enjoy while creative writing still exists, folks:
Reposted by Andrew A.N. Deloucas
Breaking news for you Proto-Elamite fans: our team just had a new article come out in the journal Near Eastern Archaeology (88.4) on our recent progress towards deciphering "one of the few remaining undeciphered scripts from the ancient world".
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
December 5, 2025 at 2:06 PM
Breaking news for you Proto-Elamite fans: our team just had a new article come out in the journal Near Eastern Archaeology (88.4) on our recent progress towards deciphering "one of the few remaining undeciphered scripts from the ancient world".
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
This is not a birth certificate and that footprint does not belong to the child discussed on the tablet. They're not even from the same city; the footprint is from Nippur, the text is from Ur.
So why did the Penn Museum bring these objects together like this since 2016?
So why did the Penn Museum bring these objects together like this since 2016?
Sumerian birth certificate. A clay tablet found at the Sumerian city of Nippur in southern Iraq.
Estimated to be around 2000-1600 BC. Contains a birth announcement, its gender, the names of its parents, and a footprint of the newborn.
@menavisualss #globalmuseum #history #Sumerian #archaeology
Estimated to be around 2000-1600 BC. Contains a birth announcement, its gender, the names of its parents, and a footprint of the newborn.
@menavisualss #globalmuseum #history #Sumerian #archaeology
December 5, 2025 at 5:53 AM
This is not a birth certificate and that footprint does not belong to the child discussed on the tablet. They're not even from the same city; the footprint is from Nippur, the text is from Ur.
So why did the Penn Museum bring these objects together like this since 2016?
So why did the Penn Museum bring these objects together like this since 2016?
We see similar discourse in Atra-hasis, a literary work from the 2nd millennium BCE that opens with a narrative of dissent between the ruling and the ruled. Humans have spent a long time thinking, writing, and conveying the difficulty of balancing political power and social liberties.
"The Iliad is in part the story of ‘civilizing’ conventions of wars dismissed. What we learn from the beginning is that political institutions are not strong enough to enforce the maintenance of normative behaviors."
sententiaeantiquae.com/2025/12/04/w...
sententiaeantiquae.com/2025/12/04/w...
War Crimes: Iliad 6, Infanticide, and the Mykonos Vase
CW: Infanticide, Sexual Violence. Reference to current events. Iliad 6 picks up at the end of book 5, where Diomedes enjoyed his aristeia. The audience witnesses a series of Achaean kills, before f…
sententiaeantiquae.com
December 4, 2025 at 5:40 PM
We see similar discourse in Atra-hasis, a literary work from the 2nd millennium BCE that opens with a narrative of dissent between the ruling and the ruled. Humans have spent a long time thinking, writing, and conveying the difficulty of balancing political power and social liberties.
Reposted by Andrew A.N. Deloucas
A bit speechless, beyond grateful, and incredibly honoured to have been included on this list with some truly amazing science writers.
Thank you, Andrew Robinson, whom I cannot find on BlueSky 🙏🏽 www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Thank you, Andrew Robinson, whom I cannot find on BlueSky 🙏🏽 www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Spineless creatures, possibly the world’s oldest beer receipt and more: 2025’s best Books in brief
Bibliophile Andrew Robinson reveals 10 essential science reads from the past year.
www.nature.com
December 3, 2025 at 9:12 AM
A bit speechless, beyond grateful, and incredibly honoured to have been included on this list with some truly amazing science writers.
Thank you, Andrew Robinson, whom I cannot find on BlueSky 🙏🏽 www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Thank you, Andrew Robinson, whom I cannot find on BlueSky 🙏🏽 www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Reposted by Andrew A.N. Deloucas
I had fun doing this podcast episode for The Ancients about Old Babylonian letters! We discussed messengers, scribes, and even a certain copper trader of dubious repute! #eanasir #cuneiform #Mesopotamia
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
The World's Oldest Letters
Podcast Episode · The Ancients · 11/27/2025 · 55m
podcasts.apple.com
November 27, 2025 at 1:40 PM
I had fun doing this podcast episode for The Ancients about Old Babylonian letters! We discussed messengers, scribes, and even a certain copper trader of dubious repute! #eanasir #cuneiform #Mesopotamia
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...