Moudhy Al-Rashid (she/her)
@moudhy.bsky.social
Assyriologist at Wolfson College (Oxford), writer plagued by self-doubt, lover of dead languages. I think we should all be doing what we can to save the planet.
My book 😎 https://lnk.to/BetweenTwoRivers
My book 😎 https://lnk.to/BetweenTwoRivers
It’s so horrifying
November 20, 2025 at 2:40 PM
It’s so horrifying
I hope so 🙏🏽
November 20, 2025 at 2:39 PM
I hope so 🙏🏽
Reposted by Moudhy Al-Rashid (she/her)
And plant them, he did! The descendants of the cedars he planted, are still there, now, 3200 years later 👍
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
How long do we think humans have been planting forests? A case study with Cedrus libani A. Rich - New Forests
The cedar of Lebanon, Cedrus libani A. Rich, is distributed around the shores of the eastern Mediterranean in Turkey, Syria and Lebanon. The most anamolous aspect of its distribution is its presence i...
link.springer.com
November 20, 2025 at 12:44 PM
And plant them, he did! The descendants of the cedars he planted, are still there, now, 3200 years later 👍
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
I hope so! (I’m nervous.) It’s about the polycrisis, focusing on political dysfunction and ecological collapse. I hope to be able to layer some insights from the past which itself was also crisis-filled but there was at least some sense that we need nature to survive
November 20, 2025 at 12:56 PM
I hope so! (I’m nervous.) It’s about the polycrisis, focusing on political dysfunction and ecological collapse. I hope to be able to layer some insights from the past which itself was also crisis-filled but there was at least some sense that we need nature to survive
That’s really well said!
November 20, 2025 at 12:54 PM
That’s really well said!
Reposted by Moudhy Al-Rashid (she/her)
I also think your example highlights that inequality varies over time. The Hittite ruler may be at the top of human society, but human society is not necessarily above nature (as it is in the extractivist model we live in) today, even a human with very little power has more power than a tree
November 20, 2025 at 12:50 PM
I also think your example highlights that inequality varies over time. The Hittite ruler may be at the top of human society, but human society is not necessarily above nature (as it is in the extractivist model we live in) today, even a human with very little power has more power than a tree
On trees in particular, there is a gorgeous book called The Genius of Trees by Harriet Rix, which will amplify that sense but is really really worth a read. Very illuminating and beautiful
November 20, 2025 at 12:38 PM
On trees in particular, there is a gorgeous book called The Genius of Trees by Harriet Rix, which will amplify that sense but is really really worth a read. Very illuminating and beautiful
The brilliant @sarahmay1.bsky.social has pointed out that given the context — a king, a palace — my interpretation leaves out the inequality behind these social structures.
Just acknowledging that 100%
I hope some of the meanings of the ritual, the circularity, etc still resonate for people 🙏🏽
Just acknowledging that 100%
I hope some of the meanings of the ritual, the circularity, etc still resonate for people 🙏🏽
November 20, 2025 at 12:35 PM
The brilliant @sarahmay1.bsky.social has pointed out that given the context — a king, a palace — my interpretation leaves out the inequality behind these social structures.
Just acknowledging that 100%
I hope some of the meanings of the ritual, the circularity, etc still resonate for people 🙏🏽
Just acknowledging that 100%
I hope some of the meanings of the ritual, the circularity, etc still resonate for people 🙏🏽
Thank you so much George! I’m really looking forward to it 😊
November 20, 2025 at 12:30 PM
Thank you so much George! I’m really looking forward to it 😊
All excellent questions. I don’t really know very much about Hittite society or religion, but if Mesopotamia was anything to go by, inequality was rampant. So this ritual most def doesn’t address this (it’s for a palace after all), but I was struck by the connection to trees/wood + circularity
November 20, 2025 at 12:29 PM
All excellent questions. I don’t really know very much about Hittite society or religion, but if Mesopotamia was anything to go by, inequality was rampant. So this ritual most def doesn’t address this (it’s for a palace after all), but I was struck by the connection to trees/wood + circularity
I am grateful to Eleanor Home at UCL for sharing a copy of her presentation with me. Her work is brilliant.
Sources
Gary Beckman, Temple Building among the Hittites
CTH 414: www.hethport.uni-wuerzburg.de/CTH/index.ph...
Sources
Gary Beckman, Temple Building among the Hittites
CTH 414: www.hethport.uni-wuerzburg.de/CTH/index.ph...
CTH
www.hethport.uni-wuerzburg.de
November 20, 2025 at 12:19 PM
I am grateful to Eleanor Home at UCL for sharing a copy of her presentation with me. Her work is brilliant.
Sources
Gary Beckman, Temple Building among the Hittites
CTH 414: www.hethport.uni-wuerzburg.de/CTH/index.ph...
Sources
Gary Beckman, Temple Building among the Hittites
CTH 414: www.hethport.uni-wuerzburg.de/CTH/index.ph...
There are many lessons about sustainability from the ancient world, as there are lessons from people today. We should listen.
Tonight’s event at 6pm is at Wolfson College and anyone can attend www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-polycr...
Tonight’s event at 6pm is at Wolfson College and anyone can attend www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-polycr...
The Polycrisis: political dysfunction, meet ecological collapse
George Monbiot will be in conversation with Dr Moudhy Al-Rashid about "The Polycrisis: political dysfunction, meet ecological collapse."
www.eventbrite.co.uk
November 20, 2025 at 12:15 PM
There are many lessons about sustainability from the ancient world, as there are lessons from people today. We should listen.
Tonight’s event at 6pm is at Wolfson College and anyone can attend www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-polycr...
Tonight’s event at 6pm is at Wolfson College and anyone can attend www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-polycr...
This Hittite building ritual (which I stress I cannot read in the original language so I apologise for any mistakes) has many symbolic elements that interlace ideas about kingship, divinity, fertility, and nature.
But what struck me is that one does not take without asking and giving back.
But what struck me is that one does not take without asking and giving back.
November 20, 2025 at 12:15 PM
This Hittite building ritual (which I stress I cannot read in the original language so I apologise for any mistakes) has many symbolic elements that interlace ideas about kingship, divinity, fertility, and nature.
But what struck me is that one does not take without asking and giving back.
But what struck me is that one does not take without asking and giving back.
Once the ritual is complete, the carpenters have made beams from the wood, and the building’s foundations have been laid, people make offerings to various wooden objects. The tree’s sacrifice is recognised.
At the end, the king makes offerings to the new hearth, where new trees are planted.
At the end, the king makes offerings to the new hearth, where new trees are planted.
November 20, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Once the ritual is complete, the carpenters have made beams from the wood, and the building’s foundations have been laid, people make offerings to various wooden objects. The tree’s sacrifice is recognised.
At the end, the king makes offerings to the new hearth, where new trees are planted.
At the end, the king makes offerings to the new hearth, where new trees are planted.
The Hittite king must ask the Storm god for a tree to build with, he must secure permission to cut down a living thing that has taken decades to grow strong and long enough to be used for construction.
And he doesn’t just need permission.
And he doesn’t just need permission.
November 20, 2025 at 12:15 PM
The Hittite king must ask the Storm god for a tree to build with, he must secure permission to cut down a living thing that has taken decades to grow strong and long enough to be used for construction.
And he doesn’t just need permission.
And he doesn’t just need permission.
Something about this Hittite ritual stuck with me since I learned about it from scholar Eleanor Home.
To build a palace, you need wood, and for wood, you need to cut down a tree. But even a Hittite king didn’t just desecrate a forest.
Photo of a juniper tree by Eric Baetscher
To build a palace, you need wood, and for wood, you need to cut down a tree. But even a Hittite king didn’t just desecrate a forest.
Photo of a juniper tree by Eric Baetscher
November 20, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Something about this Hittite ritual stuck with me since I learned about it from scholar Eleanor Home.
To build a palace, you need wood, and for wood, you need to cut down a tree. But even a Hittite king didn’t just desecrate a forest.
Photo of a juniper tree by Eric Baetscher
To build a palace, you need wood, and for wood, you need to cut down a tree. But even a Hittite king didn’t just desecrate a forest.
Photo of a juniper tree by Eric Baetscher
A ritual text from the heart of the Hittite empire, Hattusha, describes the process of building a palace.
It seems formulaic on the surface — a construction ritual that’s more or less designed to reinforce the king’s legitimacy as given and renewed by the gods.
It seems formulaic on the surface — a construction ritual that’s more or less designed to reinforce the king’s legitimacy as given and renewed by the gods.
November 20, 2025 at 12:15 PM
A ritual text from the heart of the Hittite empire, Hattusha, describes the process of building a palace.
It seems formulaic on the surface — a construction ritual that’s more or less designed to reinforce the king’s legitimacy as given and renewed by the gods.
It seems formulaic on the surface — a construction ritual that’s more or less designed to reinforce the king’s legitimacy as given and renewed by the gods.
Are you still in town?? And yes this is exactly the video I had to get help with 🤣 you have an amazing memory!
November 19, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Are you still in town?? And yes this is exactly the video I had to get help with 🤣 you have an amazing memory!
Ooooh I don’t know. I have a growing stack of packages in my office that I keep meaning to tackle but haven’t had a chance 🙈
November 19, 2025 at 3:57 PM
Ooooh I don’t know. I have a growing stack of packages in my office that I keep meaning to tackle but haven’t had a chance 🙈
Reposted by Moudhy Al-Rashid (she/her)
Our ancient love of dogs is really reassuring
For anyone wondering, some possible dog names have survived from cuneiform sources.
On tiny dog figurines found buried under a palace in Nineveh, Iraq are inscriptions that seem to be names.
dan rigiššu “loud is his bark”
munaššiku gārîšu “biter of his foe”
mušēṣi lemnūti “expeller of evil”
On tiny dog figurines found buried under a palace in Nineveh, Iraq are inscriptions that seem to be names.
dan rigiššu “loud is his bark”
munaššiku gārîšu “biter of his foe”
mušēṣi lemnūti “expeller of evil”
November 19, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Our ancient love of dogs is really reassuring
Thank you! 🙏🏽🥹
November 19, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Thank you! 🙏🏽🥹