New Hittite Tablet Shows Striking Correspondences with the Narrative of Homer's Iliad (www.thearchaeologist.org)
from lvxferre@mander.xyz to archaeology@mander.xyz on 12 Apr 2025 20:46
https://mander.xyz/post/28054743

Quick summary: a tablet written in Hittite, from a likely vassal to their king, recounts how Attaršiya [Atreus?] of Ahhiyawa [the Achaeans] and his sons attacked Taruiša [Troy]. And at the end there’s a fragment in another Anatolian language, Luwian, saying the following:

wa-ar-ku-uš-ša-an ma-a-aš-ša-ni SÌ[R
wrath.ACC god(dess).VOC? si[ng

So roughly “Sing, oh goddess, the wrath…”

This is pretty much how the Illiad starts in Greek:

μῆνιν ἄειδε θεὰ Πηληϊάδεω Ἀχιλῆος
mênĭn áeide theā́ Pēlēïádeō Akhĭlêos
rage.ACC sing.IMP goddess.VOC Peleus.GEN Achilles.GEN
Sing, oh goddess, the rage of Achilles [son] of Peleus

#archaeology

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Coelacanth@feddit.nu on 12 Apr 2025 21:13 next collapse

Wow, that is a hugely interesting find.

ElcaineVolta@kbin.melroy.org on 12 Apr 2025 22:13 next collapse

I've seen biblical scholars point out how prevalent Homer's work was in the mind of people at the time, and that leveraging these themes were a huge draw for attempting to spread a new religion.
seems that's why Luke has this huge raging sea sequence when the sea of galilee is like a puddle, pretty silly really.

lunarul@lemmy.world on 13 Apr 2025 01:55 collapse

But this is a Hittite tablet. So it predates Homer by centuries.

Gloomy@mander.xyz on 12 Apr 2025 23:33 next collapse

What doe the capital letters (eg ACC) in the translations refer too?

tiredofsametab@fedia.io on 12 Apr 2025 23:41 next collapse

Grammar, I think. VOC = vocative, ACC = accusitive, GEN = genitive, IMP = small hellish creature (but probably Imperative, were I to guess).

lvxferre@mander.xyz on 13 Apr 2025 01:03 collapse

Gloss info. In a simplified way:

  • ACC = accusative = direct object; e.g. "I see you."
  • VOC = vocative; e.g. "oh you!"
  • GEN = genitive; e.g. "this is your book."
  • IMP = imperative; e.g. “do it!”

It’s important in this case because both Luwian and Greek allow you to shift words back and forth for emphasis, and it’s poetry so the order gets even messier, so without that it’s hard to parse the sentence.

Also note that this is from my part, it isn’t present in the original.

Tilgare@lemmy.world on 13 Apr 2025 03:18 next collapse

Nothing is original these days. Smh

ICastFist@programming.dev on 16 Apr 11:54 collapse

Nothing is original these days. Smh

TheBat@lemmy.world on 13 Apr 2025 08:15 next collapse

Nolan’s marketing campaign is going well I see

lenuup@reddthat.com on 14 Apr 2025 13:39 collapse

Might be whoosh on my side, but the article was published on April 1st.