The story of a Babylonian archive

Welcome to Archives in Context. This is an outreach initiative of the ERC project "Persia and Babylonia: Creating a New Context for Understanding the Emergence of the First World Empire". On this website, we give you a tour of different facets of our research: from cuneiform tablets to the workings of the Persian Empire. From the formation of an archive to its abandonment, destruction and rediscovery. From ancient record keeping to 3D archaeology and social network analysis. Join us on our search!

Archival practices in ancient Babylonia

Several modern and ancient factors contributed to whether ancient records have reached us.

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Background

Libraries and Archives: Solo or Ensemble?
Libraries and Archives: Solo or Ensemble?

In Assyriology documentation is divided into archival and library sources. Here we try to understand if this division also existed

Libraries and Archives: Solo or Ensemble?
How Did Ancient Documents Survive the Test of Time?
How Did Ancient Documents Survive the Test of Time?

Many documents from antiquity have not been preserved. That is not because some ancient fire destroyed them all (as was

How Did Ancient Documents Survive the Test of Time?
The de Liagre Böhl Collection
The de Liagre Böhl Collection

Several clay tablets from the De Liagre Böhl collection are presented on this website. Therefore, a short note on how

The de Liagre Böhl Collection
Traders, Travellers, Treasure hunters and the birth of Near Eastern Archaeology
Traders, Travellers, Treasure hunters and the birth of Near Eastern Archaeology

Well into the 19th century traders and travellers’ tales of journeys to the Near East ignited people’s interest. Subsequently museums,

Traders, Travellers, Treasure hunters and the birth of Near Eastern Archaeology
The Hunt for Cuneiform Tablets: 19th Century Illicit Digs at Borsippa
The Hunt for Cuneiform Tablets: 19th Century Illicit Digs at Borsippa

Many archaeological sites fall prey to looters in their search for saleable antiquities. The ancient city of Borsippa, or present day

The Hunt for Cuneiform Tablets: 19th Century Illicit Digs at Borsippa
Finding Sepharvaim and Its Tablets: Hormuzd Rassam’s Crowning Achievement
Finding Sepharvaim and Its Tablets: Hormuzd Rassam’s Crowning Achievement

Excavator, explorer, interpreter, diplomatic envoy, etc. The achievements of Hormuzd Rassam were many (see figure 1). His legacy in the

Finding Sepharvaim and Its Tablets: Hormuzd Rassam’s Crowning Achievement
The historical importance of the Bisitun Inscription
The historical importance of the Bisitun Inscription

The Bisitun (or Behistun) inscription is a monumental rock inscription in the Zagros mountains, near modern day Kermanshah (Iran). It

The historical importance of the Bisitun Inscription
Metal, Object, Measure and Cash. Silver in First Millennium BCE Babylonia
Metal, Object, Measure and Cash. Silver in First Millennium BCE Babylonia

Silver played an important role in Neo-Babylonian and Achaemenid economy. This metal took various shapes and served many purposes during

Metal, Object, Measure and Cash. Silver in First Millennium BCE Babylonia
A seal is worth a thousand words
A seal is worth a thousand words

Anyone who is familiar with the NINO (Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten) knows how precious its collection of antiquities

A seal is worth a thousand words

Field Notes and Archival stories

A Pending Silver Payment: The Cuneiform Tablet LB 1709

A Pending Silver Payment: The Cuneiform Tablet LB 1709

LB 1709 is a promissory note of silver dating to the reign of Darius and...
3D Scanning a Tablet: The Maštuk Family in Leiden

3D Scanning a Tablet: The Maštuk Family in Leiden

Even especially enigmatic agreements recorded more than 2500 years ago can make sense, when their...
Great Adventures of a Small Clay Tablet: LB 1326

Great Adventures of a Small Clay Tablet: LB 1326

The clay tablet LB 1326 made quite a journey from Babylon, where it was written...
The Egibi/Nūr-Sîn archive

The Egibi/Nūr-Sîn archive

The Egibi/Nūr-Sîn archive is the biggest private archive to have survived from the Neo-Babylonian and...
Tappašar and the death of her husband

Tappašar and the death of her husband

Let me introduce you to Tappašar, a lady who lived in Babylon in the 6th...

Methods and Tools

Social Network Analysis and Cuneiform Archives
Social Network Analysis and Cuneiform Archives

The social network analysis offers many possibilities to study the social realities behind cuneiform sources. The thousands of archival documents from Babylonia inform

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Gephi Guidelines for Cuneiform Archives. Part 1: Acquiring a Dataset via Prosobab
Gephi Guidelines for Cuneiform Archives. Part 1: Acquiring a Dataset via Prosobab

  This is Part 1 in a series of practical guidelines that describe how to use Gephi for social network

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Gephi Guidelines for Cuneiform Archives. Part 2: Cleaning your Dataset
Gephi Guidelines for Cuneiform Archives. Part 2: Cleaning your Dataset

  This is Part 2 in a series of blog posts that describe how to use Gephi for social network

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Gephi Guidelines for Cuneiform Archives. Part 3: Data Preparation for Gephi
Gephi Guidelines for Cuneiform Archives. Part 3: Data Preparation for Gephi

  This is Part 3 in a series of blog posts that describe how to use Gephi for social network

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Gephi Guidelines for Cuneiform Archives. Part 4: Data Import for a 2-mode Network
Gephi Guidelines for Cuneiform Archives. Part 4: Data Import for a 2-mode Network

  This is Part 4 in a series of blog posts that describe how to use Gephi for social network

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Gephi Guidelines for Cuneiform Archives. Part 5: Transforming a 2-mode Network into a 1-mode Network
Gephi Guidelines for Cuneiform Archives. Part 5: Transforming a 2-mode Network into a 1-mode Network

  This is part 4 in a series of blog posts that describe how to use Gephi for social network

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“Say eqīdu!” click-clack!
“Say eqīdu!” click-clack!

Photography and Assyriology have met in many other ways. For the last century-and-a-half, they have grown together, feeding and learning from each other. Funny enough, despite its hi-tech aura Photography is actually the elder brother in this symbiotic relationship. Both came to light in the mid-19th century and were developed by technological and scientific breakthroughs brought about by several Victorian-era polymaths.

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Archives in Context is an outreach initiative of the ERC project Persia and Babylonia: Creating a New Context for Understanding the Emergence of the First World Empire.