Ancient Babylonian text deciphered with AI

News snapshot

• Scholars used AI to line up scattered fragments
• A 250-line 'hymn' was resorted 'decades' sooner
• Text revealed female roles and 'urban' life in BCE Babylon

Researchers at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich have rediscovered and fully deciphered a Babylonian hymn lost for approximately 1,000 years, using an AI platform to match and interpret fragments.

It revealed a hymn, once taught to schoolchildren, interpreted as praising the city’s temples, the Euphrates and its social fabric.

Professor Enrique Jiménez explained that without the use of AI the process could be expected to take 'decades'.

The AI system was able to identify 30 manuscript pieces.

The hymn describes Babylon’s architecture, the life-giving waters of the Euphrates and details the duties of priestesses. These are described as information unseen in prior Mesopotamian literature.