Abigail Tan
@symmetr1cgroup.bsky.social
Cambridge maths grad. Spends too much time looking at ancient inscriptions (specific interests in Achaemenid and general ANE/classical history). Also quizbowl player/writer. Projects and resources: https://ahcmt2.user.srcf.net/
Reposted by Abigail Tan
#EpigraphyTuesday
Dedication to Serapis, Isis, the Nile and the Theoi Euergetai (Benefactor Gods), Ptolemy III and Berenice II. From #Egypt. #History #Archaeology
[To Sarapidi Isis Neilo / And to King Ptolemy / And to Queen Berenice / Benefactor of the Gods / Kallikrates, son of Antipatros]
Dedication to Serapis, Isis, the Nile and the Theoi Euergetai (Benefactor Gods), Ptolemy III and Berenice II. From #Egypt. #History #Archaeology
[To Sarapidi Isis Neilo / And to King Ptolemy / And to Queen Berenice / Benefactor of the Gods / Kallikrates, son of Antipatros]
October 7, 2025 at 8:44 AM
#EpigraphyTuesday
Dedication to Serapis, Isis, the Nile and the Theoi Euergetai (Benefactor Gods), Ptolemy III and Berenice II. From #Egypt. #History #Archaeology
[To Sarapidi Isis Neilo / And to King Ptolemy / And to Queen Berenice / Benefactor of the Gods / Kallikrates, son of Antipatros]
Dedication to Serapis, Isis, the Nile and the Theoi Euergetai (Benefactor Gods), Ptolemy III and Berenice II. From #Egypt. #History #Archaeology
[To Sarapidi Isis Neilo / And to King Ptolemy / And to Queen Berenice / Benefactor of the Gods / Kallikrates, son of Antipatros]
Some thoughts on perception/outreach: I've found outside attitudes towards cuneiform/ANE history tend to be split between A) "it's a really cool thing to learn to be able to read clay tablets" and B) "this is synonymous with being really old" (1/n)
October 26, 2025 at 8:54 PM
Some thoughts on perception/outreach: I've found outside attitudes towards cuneiform/ANE history tend to be split between A) "it's a really cool thing to learn to be able to read clay tablets" and B) "this is synonymous with being really old" (1/n)
Reposted by Abigail Tan
There I go again, adding a passage on a Luwian text to my manuscript on Northwest Semitic poetics. Will I ever learn.
October 25, 2025 at 3:32 PM
There I go again, adding a passage on a Luwian text to my manuscript on Northwest Semitic poetics. Will I ever learn.
Reposted by Abigail Tan
I went a bit mad in the Vilnius souvenir shops, but you don’t know you need a chocolate map of the ethnographic regions of Lithuania until you see a chocolate map of the ethnographic regions of Lithuania
September 27, 2025 at 7:45 AM
I went a bit mad in the Vilnius souvenir shops, but you don’t know you need a chocolate map of the ethnographic regions of Lithuania until you see a chocolate map of the ethnographic regions of Lithuania
How learning Akkadian signs has been going today
September 21, 2025 at 3:15 PM
How learning Akkadian signs has been going today
Exiled Thucydides knew
All that a speech can say
About Democracy,
And what dictators do,
The elderly rubbish they talk
To an apathetic grave;
Analysed all in his book,
The enlightenment driven away,
The habit-forming pain,
Mismanagement and grief:
We must suffer them all again.
September 1, 2025
All that a speech can say
About Democracy,
And what dictators do,
The elderly rubbish they talk
To an apathetic grave;
Analysed all in his book,
The enlightenment driven away,
The habit-forming pain,
Mismanagement and grief:
We must suffer them all again.
September 1, 2025
September 1, 2025 at 9:54 AM
Exiled Thucydides knew
All that a speech can say
About Democracy,
And what dictators do,
The elderly rubbish they talk
To an apathetic grave;
Analysed all in his book,
The enlightenment driven away,
The habit-forming pain,
Mismanagement and grief:
We must suffer them all again.
September 1, 2025
All that a speech can say
About Democracy,
And what dictators do,
The elderly rubbish they talk
To an apathetic grave;
Analysed all in his book,
The enlightenment driven away,
The habit-forming pain,
Mismanagement and grief:
We must suffer them all again.
September 1, 2025
This is incredibly important to keep going, and the potential for outreach is clearly there - in my experience many people outside of the field show a lot of initial interest in cuneiform when encountering it
There are many of us available for hire, experts in numerous cuneiform scripts and the history and culture surrounding their use.
There are so many experts who are excited to teach these things to students who are excited to learn them. This doesn't have to be esoteric or specialist knowledge!
There are so many experts who are excited to teach these things to students who are excited to learn them. This doesn't have to be esoteric or specialist knowledge!
There will be many casualties from UChicago ending ('pausing') PhD admissions in Humantities, but one which I am keenly aware of: this is close to a death sentence for teaching cuneiform in the United States (esp. Sumerian, Hittite, Elamite, Eblaite, Luwian) and it will affect the whole world.
August 27, 2025 at 9:31 PM
This is incredibly important to keep going, and the potential for outreach is clearly there - in my experience many people outside of the field show a lot of initial interest in cuneiform when encountering it
In light of the recent university department cuts, one may refer to CS Lewis’ sermon “Learning in Wartime” on the importance of the continuous pursuit of knowledge in the face of adversity. (1/4)
August 20, 2025 at 12:49 PM
In light of the recent university department cuts, one may refer to CS Lewis’ sermon “Learning in Wartime” on the importance of the continuous pursuit of knowledge in the face of adversity. (1/4)
Excited to be editing Ancient History and European History for 2026 ACF Nationals, which has now been announced: hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewt...
2026 ACF Nationals: April 18-19, 2026 - The Quizbowl Resource Center
hsquizbowl.org
August 19, 2025 at 6:20 PM
Excited to be editing Ancient History and European History for 2026 ACF Nationals, which has now been announced: hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewt...
Reposted by Abigail Tan
illos futuentes stultos qui universitates regnant, ut defutuantur.
This isn’t an impoverished regional school – this is the University of Chicago. Devastating.
August 13, 2025 at 6:19 PM
illos futuentes stultos qui universitates regnant, ut defutuantur.
Writing well in STEM fields is also no less important than writing well in humanities (research needs to be comprehensible!), and we should not advertise STEM as where to go to get away from writing. Also, academics in *all* fields have to do problem-solving, which should be more widely recognised.
Decades of mechanistic talk about university degrees as if they were bundles of 'skills' and 'prep' are about to be proved completely wrong (obviously). Want to get a real boost? Do History or English.
July 13, 2025 at 11:32 AM
Writing well in STEM fields is also no less important than writing well in humanities (research needs to be comprehensible!), and we should not advertise STEM as where to go to get away from writing. Also, academics in *all* fields have to do problem-solving, which should be more widely recognised.
Reposted by Abigail Tan
The figures of Emperor Charles IV and his wife Elisabeth of Pomerania on a balcony overlooking the southern facade of the Marienkirche, Mühlhausen. Built in the 1360s, they reminded the burghers of the imperial city of their distant overlord - the purveyor of their urban privileges. #medievalsky
June 14, 2025 at 1:14 PM
The figures of Emperor Charles IV and his wife Elisabeth of Pomerania on a balcony overlooking the southern facade of the Marienkirche, Mühlhausen. Built in the 1360s, they reminded the burghers of the imperial city of their distant overlord - the purveyor of their urban privileges. #medievalsky
Reposted by Abigail Tan
One cannot truly appreciate Achaemenid royal ideology until one has experienced the power trip of wearing a very nice flowing robe.
June 11, 2025 at 3:38 PM
One cannot truly appreciate Achaemenid royal ideology until one has experienced the power trip of wearing a very nice flowing robe.
Reposted by Abigail Tan
I particularly like the attention paid to late antiquity at Carnuntum. Most of the buildings are meant to be fourth century and there is a lot of focus on the conference of the emperors held there at 308 (arguably more than on Marcus Aurelius’ time there.)
June 1, 2025 at 9:27 AM
I particularly like the attention paid to late antiquity at Carnuntum. Most of the buildings are meant to be fourth century and there is a lot of focus on the conference of the emperors held there at 308 (arguably more than on Marcus Aurelius’ time there.)
Reposted by Abigail Tan
The vase has a quadrilingual inscription, in Old Persian, Babylonian, and Elamite cuneiforms, and in Egyptian hieroglyphs. All three inscriptions have the same meaning "Xerxes : The Great King". The Old Persian cuneiform reads:
𐎧𐏁𐎹𐎠𐎼𐏁𐎠 𐏐 𐏋 𐏐 𐎺𐏀𐎼𐎣
( Xšayāršā : XŠ : vazraka)
"Xerxes : The Great King."
𐎧𐏁𐎹𐎠𐎼𐏁𐎠 𐏐 𐏋 𐏐 𐎺𐏀𐎼𐎣
( Xšayāršā : XŠ : vazraka)
"Xerxes : The Great King."
May 26, 2025 at 4:26 PM
The vase has a quadrilingual inscription, in Old Persian, Babylonian, and Elamite cuneiforms, and in Egyptian hieroglyphs. All three inscriptions have the same meaning "Xerxes : The Great King". The Old Persian cuneiform reads:
𐎧𐏁𐎹𐎠𐎼𐏁𐎠 𐏐 𐏋 𐏐 𐎺𐏀𐎼𐎣
( Xšayāršā : XŠ : vazraka)
"Xerxes : The Great King."
𐎧𐏁𐎹𐎠𐎼𐏁𐎠 𐏐 𐏋 𐏐 𐎺𐏀𐎼𐎣
( Xšayāršā : XŠ : vazraka)
"Xerxes : The Great King."
Reposted by Abigail Tan
Instead, I think we are ill-served by the empty cynicism of 'go to college to get a job' rather than the notion that education is a form of self-improvement that produces a better, more capable version of yourself.
May 14, 2025 at 1:29 PM
Instead, I think we are ill-served by the empty cynicism of 'go to college to get a job' rather than the notion that education is a form of self-improvement that produces a better, more capable version of yourself.
Epigraphy in shambles (Lermontov’s Hero of our Time)
May 1, 2025 at 8:18 AM
Epigraphy in shambles (Lermontov’s Hero of our Time)
Reposted by Abigail Tan
What was it like to be a prince in the Holy Roman Empire?
Well, not quite what it is set out to be, in particular when you are a smaller prince, not in stature, but in land.
The margraves of Baden were such princes.
⬇️⬇️
Well, not quite what it is set out to be, in particular when you are a smaller prince, not in stature, but in land.
The margraves of Baden were such princes.
⬇️⬇️
April 24, 2025 at 10:34 AM
What was it like to be a prince in the Holy Roman Empire?
Well, not quite what it is set out to be, in particular when you are a smaller prince, not in stature, but in land.
The margraves of Baden were such princes.
⬇️⬇️
Well, not quite what it is set out to be, in particular when you are a smaller prince, not in stature, but in land.
The margraves of Baden were such princes.
⬇️⬇️
Reposted by Abigail Tan
The Anat Athena bilingual is a late fourth century BCE bilingual Greek-Phoenician inscription on a rock-cut stone found in the outskirts of the village of Larnakas tis Lapithou, Cyprus.
April 16, 2025 at 1:56 PM
The Anat Athena bilingual is a late fourth century BCE bilingual Greek-Phoenician inscription on a rock-cut stone found in the outskirts of the village of Larnakas tis Lapithou, Cyprus.
“In a world of inconstancy and change history has the power to remedy both the arrogance of the fortunate and the misery of the unfortunate”
— Diodorus Siculus (18.59.6)
— Diodorus Siculus (18.59.6)
March 17, 2025 at 9:51 AM
“In a world of inconstancy and change history has the power to remedy both the arrogance of the fortunate and the misery of the unfortunate”
— Diodorus Siculus (18.59.6)
— Diodorus Siculus (18.59.6)
Reposted by Abigail Tan
Two of the extraordinary letters -
1) the halmi, the sealed document granting the steward Nakhthor the right to draw rations on his journey towards Egypt
2) The reality of the satrap's concerns for his wealth and estate, and the brutal consequences
1) the halmi, the sealed document granting the steward Nakhthor the right to draw rations on his journey towards Egypt
2) The reality of the satrap's concerns for his wealth and estate, and the brutal consequences
![TADAE A6.9
Inside
1 From Aršāma to Marduk the official who is in [ . . . . . ]; Nabudalani the
offic[ial] who is in Laʿir; Zātavahyā the official [who is in] Arzuḥin;
Upastābara the official who is in Arbel, ḤL[.], and Matalubaš; Bagafārna
the official
2 [w]ho is in Saʿlam; Frādafarnā and Hau[madā]ta (?) the [o]ffi[cial]s
who are in Damascus. And now, [behol]d, (he) whose name is
Nakhtḥor, m[y] official, [is goi]ng to Egypt. (As for) you, give
[him ra]tions from my estate which is in your provinces,
3 day by day: white flour, two measures (ḤPNN); inferior (?) flour, three
measures; wine or beer, two measures; [cheese (?) or lamb (?)], one.
And for his servants, ten m[e]n, to each per day:
4 flour, one measure; fodder in proportion to his horses. And give rations
to the (following) men: two Cilicians, one artisan, (in) all, three (men),
my servants who are going with him to Egypt, to each
5 man per day: flour, one measure. Give them this ration, from (one)
official to (the next) official, in accordance with the route which is from
province to province, until he shall reach Egypt.
6 And if he should be in (any) one place more than one day, then for
those days you shall not give them further rations. Bagasravā knows this
order. Rāšta is the scribe.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2dtt3pha6dy7vama4atwf4gj/bafkreigpocbl5nl3rtfvqknrkasttz3p6kt7patqhddpcbux7jx3rznuwq@jpeg)
![TADAE A6.10
Inside
1 From Aršāma to Nakhtḥor. And now: previously, when the Egyptians
rebelled, then Samšek the previous official, our personnel and goods
2 [which] are in Egypt he guarded with force, so that there was not any
loss from my estate. Also, from elsewhere (‘another place’), personnel
3 of artisans of every kind and other goods, sufficiently he sought and
made over to my estate. And now: it is thus heard by me here, that the
officials who are
4 [in Lo]wer (Egypt) are being diligent in the disturbances (?), and are
forcefully guarding the personnel and goods of their lords. They are also
seeking others from elsewhere,
5 and are add[ing t]o the estate of their lords. But you (and your
colleagues) are not so doing. Now, I have also previously sent (word) to
you concerning this: ‘You are to be diligent.
6 Guard [my] personnel and goods forcefully, so that there shall not be
a[n]y loss from my estate. Also, from elsewhere, personnel of artisans
7 of every kind, seek (in) sufficient (numbers), and bring (them) into my
courtyard, and mark (them) with my brand, and make (them) over to
my estate, just as
8 the [pre]vious officials were doing.’ Thus let it be known to you, if from
the personnel or from my other goods there should be any loss,
9 or from elsewhere you should not seek and should not add to my estate,
you will (all) be questioned forcefully, and a severe sentence will be
produced
10 for you (Nakhtḥor). [Ar]taxaya knows this order. Rāšta is the scribe.
Outside
11 From Aršāma to Nakhtḥor the official who is in Egypt, in Lower
(Egypt).
12 Concerning the instruction
13 which [ . . . . . . . ]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2dtt3pha6dy7vama4atwf4gj/bafkreicnnwhsxowipwdmwuu6ottdfsn2pctbizs6xoohixo6q2pumjlzva@jpeg)
February 28, 2025 at 5:07 PM
Two of the extraordinary letters -
1) the halmi, the sealed document granting the steward Nakhthor the right to draw rations on his journey towards Egypt
2) The reality of the satrap's concerns for his wealth and estate, and the brutal consequences
1) the halmi, the sealed document granting the steward Nakhthor the right to draw rations on his journey towards Egypt
2) The reality of the satrap's concerns for his wealth and estate, and the brutal consequences
Reposted by Abigail Tan
Akkadian expression of the day:
Ummān-Manda ("foreign/enemy horde").
Pictured: Hordak, leader of the Evil Horde, from SPOP. He's one cool guy.
Ummān-Manda ("foreign/enemy horde").
Pictured: Hordak, leader of the Evil Horde, from SPOP. He's one cool guy.
December 18, 2024 at 5:57 PM
Akkadian expression of the day:
Ummān-Manda ("foreign/enemy horde").
Pictured: Hordak, leader of the Evil Horde, from SPOP. He's one cool guy.
Ummān-Manda ("foreign/enemy horde").
Pictured: Hordak, leader of the Evil Horde, from SPOP. He's one cool guy.
I’ve started a new blog! First up is an article about the hagiography of Holy Roman Emperor Henry II — what do all of these sources about the weighing of his deeds have to do with each other?
obscurerdepths.wordpress.com/2024/12/04/t...
obscurerdepths.wordpress.com/2024/12/04/t...
The Golden Chalice and the Judgement of Emperor Henry II
I saw there evil and most hideous demons from whose mouths and nostrils sulfuric flames blazed and who dragged the resisting Emperor Henry by his beard as if to a judgment. Others were pricking his…
obscurerdepths.wordpress.com
December 5, 2024 at 12:09 PM
I’ve started a new blog! First up is an article about the hagiography of Holy Roman Emperor Henry II — what do all of these sources about the weighing of his deeds have to do with each other?
obscurerdepths.wordpress.com/2024/12/04/t...
obscurerdepths.wordpress.com/2024/12/04/t...
I’ve written an article for UK Quizbowl about getting into, and improving at, history in quiz! This should hopefully be useful for anyone wanting to learn a new category of the distribution, and maybe pick up new interests along the way.
quizbowl.co.uk/articles/imp...
quizbowl.co.uk/articles/imp...
Improving at Quizbowl: History (by Abigail Tan)
Parthians, Abbasids, Safavids and Seleucids ...
quizbowl.co.uk
December 2, 2024 at 8:40 AM
I’ve written an article for UK Quizbowl about getting into, and improving at, history in quiz! This should hopefully be useful for anyone wanting to learn a new category of the distribution, and maybe pick up new interests along the way.
quizbowl.co.uk/articles/imp...
quizbowl.co.uk/articles/imp...