{"id":190042,"date":"2026-04-21T15:51:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T13:51:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/oldgamle-fejder-om-magt-magi-og-oekonomi-faar-nyt-liv-online\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T15:36:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T13:36:17","slug":"oldgamle-fejder-om-magt-magi-og-oekonomi-faar-nyt-liv-online","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/oldgamle-fejder-om-magt-magi-og-oekonomi-faar-nyt-liv-online\/","title":{"rendered":"Ancient feuds over power, magic and economy come back to life online"},"content":{"rendered":"

Down a research corridor in one of the far corners of the Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies (ToRS), there is a small enclosed room.<\/p>\n

The space is climate-controlled and requires special access, because behind the glass walls lie valuable artifacts from some of the world\u2019s ancient civilizations.<\/p>\n

Among them is what Uniavisen has come to take a closer look at today:<\/p>\n

A collection of clay tablets with cuneiform writing from Mesopotamia \u2014 a collective term for cultures located in areas we today know as Turkey, Iraq, and Syria, dating back to 3200 BCE.<\/p>\n

For four years<\/secret>, these clay tablets have been at the center of the project Hidden Treasures \u2014 an Assyriological<\/secret> research collaboration between the University of Copenhagen and the National Museum of Denmark, aimed at making the museum\u2019s collection of cuneiform tablets accessible to both specialists and the general public.<\/p>\n

A surprisingly fascinating receipt<\/h3>\n

The reason for today\u2019s visit is that the project has now reached its final goal: the collection has been digitized, and anyone interested in ancient cuneiform can now explore it online via the Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative<\/a>. The collection has also been published in book form<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00bbIt has been really exciting that we\u2019ve had the opportunity to examine the collection as a whole. Previously, it was mainly specialists with specific interests who studied small selections of the texts \u2014 never the entire collection,\u00ab says Troels Pank Arb\u00f8ll, Associate Professor of Assyriology at the University of Copenhagen, who has worked on the project together with six other researchers.<\/p>\n

A receipt is not exactly mind-blowing on its own, but when we gather a large number of texts like this, a bigger picture emerges<\/p>\n

Troels Pank Arb\u00f8ll, Associate Professor, Assyriology<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

The National Museum of Denmark\u2019s cuneiform collection consists of 241 inscribed objects from a range of different periods, discovered in Iraq, Syria, and Iran. Some are around 4,500 years old, and they vary widely in type \u2014 from medical texts and magical incantations to simple receipts.<\/p>\n

\u00bbA receipt is not exactly mind-blowing on its own, but when we gather a large number of texts like this, a bigger picture emerges. That allows us to carry out quantitative analyses that are quite fascinating. You gain very advanced insights into the economic and cultural structures of these societies,\u00ab he explains.<\/p>\n

An iPhone in clay<\/h3>\n

I\u2019m not sure what I had expected. Still, I feel slightly underwhelmed when Troels Pank Arb\u00f8ll brings out the valuable clay tablets.<\/p>\n

They are quite small \u2014 no larger than a modern iPhone \u2014 and if you didn\u2019t know better, you might think they were ordinary stones with random markings, like something you might stumble upon along Denmark\u2019s west coast.<\/p>\n

The associate professor laughs when I mention that the tablets are smaller than I had imagined.<\/p>\n

Read also:<\/strong> He taught himself ‘Elvish’ as a child. Now he is to solve an ancient enigma in Mexico<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\u00bbMost people think they are huge tablets, but in many cases they\u2019re really not bigger than this,\u00ab he says.<\/p>\n

Their size does nothing to diminish his enthusiasm, which is evident as he recounts the story behind the small objects.<\/p>\n

\u00bbCuneiform \u2014 along with hieroglyphs \u2014 is the world\u2019s earliest writing system. It was used across different languages from around 3200 BCE until roughly 80 CE. That\u2019s a span of more than 3,000 years, which makes tablets like these a vast historical laboratory.\u00ab<\/p>\n

The crack of doom<\/h3>\n

Some of the tablets are small, solid pieces of clay with inscriptions. Others are assembled like complex puzzles \u2014 tablets that broke in antiquity and were later reconstructed and glued together by conservators after excavation, Arb\u00f8ll explains.<\/p>\n

To preserve them, the tablets have been fired and hardened in modern times. This makes them relatively robust, but they can still break occasionally.<\/p>\n

\u00bbI\u2019ve never damaged anything myself, but I\u2019ve heard horror stories from abroad about tablets breaking while a researcher was holding them. Some call it \u2018the crack of doom\u2019 \u2014 when an internal, invisible fracture suddenly causes the tablet to split in two,\u00ab he says.<\/p>\n

When that happens \u2014 and it does from time to time \u2014 there is no alternative but to have a conservator glue it back together.
\n
\n\u00bbThere will always be a risk in handling them. In principle, it might be better to leave them untouched. But if we want to conduct research, teach, and communicate knowledge, we have to make a judgment about when it\u2019s worth it.\u00ab<\/p>\n

Similar to Chinese<\/h3>\n

It takes training and a keen eye to decipher what the many small markings are trying to convey. When reading cuneiform, scholars follow a specific procedure, shining a strong light across the top of the tablet so the shadows fall correctly, Arb\u00f8ll explains.<\/p>\n

Read also:<\/strong> The last indologist: \u00bbFortunately, there are still places in the world that haven\u2019t given up on history\u00ab<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

They then draw what they see by hand, creating a copy that makes it easier to interpret the overall structure of the signs and words.<\/p>\n

\u00bbCuneiform is somewhat similar to what we know from Chinese today. Individual signs can represent sounds in the language they are written in, but they can also function as ideograms \u2014 representing entire words or concepts,\u00ab he explains.<\/p>\n

\u00bbThat\u2019s why interpreting it can feel a bit like solving a puzzle. There are no spaces between words, but at least there are line breaks, and you read from left to right, just like we do.\u00ab<\/p>\n

A message from a hothead<\/h3>\n

Most of the clay tablets at ToRS are on loan from the National Museum of Denmark and represent part of a letter archive discovered and excavated by Danish researchers in 1957, later gifted to Denmark by the Iraqi state. They originate from the first Assyrian kingdom in northern Iraq, dating to around 1800 BCE.<\/p>\n

The letters were mostly dictated by the king, Shamshi-Adad, to various subordinates who needed to be kept in line one way or another.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a gift to science that helps preserve the material for the future<\/p>\n

Troels Pank Arb\u00f8ll, Associate Professor, Assyriology<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Troels Pank Arb\u00f8ll demonstrates how to read a cuneiform letter.<\/p>\n

\u00bbThis is a letter that begins with an introductory formula: \u2018to\u2019 followed by a name \u2014 Kuwari. Then comes the formula \u2018qibima,\u2019 which means \u2018say!\u2019 \u2014 typically \u2018say to someone.\u2019 In other words, the content of this letter is to be delivered to Kuwari,\u00ab he explains.<\/p>\n

Kuwari was a local ruler in a mountainous region of the kingdom during a time when Shamshi-Adad was expanding his territory. However, many people already lived in the mountains and were moving in and out of the kingdom.<\/p>\n

\u00bbThe king wasn\u2019t particularly interested in having all these people entering freely, so in the letter he orders Kuwari to deal with them,\u00ab Arb\u00f8ll says.<\/p>\n

The letter is written as a quotation \u2014 someone else is writing while the king dictates.<\/p>\n

\u00bbAnd it\u2019s quite entertaining to read, because Shamshi-Adad in particular has a tendency to get angry. You can see it in the letters when the grammar suddenly starts to break down because he\u2019s standing there ranting,\u00ab Arb\u00f8ll says with a laugh.<\/p>\n

\u00bbHe doesn\u2019t swear directly in the letters, but the wording becomes more abrupt and clipped.\u00ab<\/p>\n

Antiquity forever<\/h3>\n

Troels Pank Arb\u00f8ll is pleased that this vast puzzle of ancient correspondence is now available online for everyone.<\/p>\n

\u00bbDigitization serves several purposes. It makes the material accessible online, so anyone interested can explore it and get a sense of these objects. It also allows colleagues around the world to gain almost full access,\u00ab he says.<\/p>\n

\u00bbIt\u2019s never quite the same as holding them in your hands, but it comes close,\u00ab he adds.<\/p>\n

\u00bbIt\u2019s actually quite straightforward to carry out digitization, and it\u2019s a gift to science that helps preserve the material for the future. That\u2019s why the platform also encourages as many institutions as possible to begin digitizing.\u00ab
\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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","name":"lertavler-2-of-1","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":189948,"date":"2026-04-21 12:29:00","modified":"2026-04-21 13:03:43","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":2560,"height":1707,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/lertavler2of1-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/lertavler2of1-480x320.jpg","medium-width":480,"medium-height":320,"medium_large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/lertavler2of1-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/lertavler2of1-1280x853.jpg","large-width":1280,"large-height":853,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/lertavler2of1-1536x1024.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/lertavler2of1-2048x1365.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1365,"featured-soft":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/lertavler2of1-290x193.jpg","featured-soft-width":290,"featured-soft-height":193,"featured-hard":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/lertavler2of1-290x180.jpg","featured-hard-width":290,"featured-hard-height":180,"narrow":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/lertavler2of1-700x467.jpg","narrow-width":700,"narrow-height":467,"extended":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/lertavler2of1-990x660.jpg","extended-width":990,"extended-height":660}},"style":"extended","text_placement":"metadata-below","image_link_url":"","image_link_title":"","caption_prefix":"","enable_alternative_caption":true,"alternative_caption":"It requires a special procedure to read the ancient clay tablets from Assyrian civilizations."},{"acf_fc_layout":"Standfirst","subject":"Hidden treasures","text":"This is a story about what will follow","use_post_excerpt":true},{"acf_fc_layout":"Byline","is_author":true,"contributors":false},{"acf_fc_layout":"Content","content":"<p>Down a research corridor in one of the far corners of the Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies (ToRS), there is a small enclosed room.<\/p>\n<p>The space is climate-controlled and requires special access, because behind the glass walls lie valuable artifacts from some of the world\u2019s ancient civilizations.<\/p>\n<p>Among them is what Uniavisen has come to take a closer look at today:<\/p>\n<p>A collection of clay tablets with cuneiform writing from Mesopotamia \u2014 a collective term for cultures located in areas we today know as Turkey, Iraq, and Syria, dating back to 3200 BCE.<\/p>\n<p>For four <secret text=\"2019-2023\">years<\/secret>, these clay tablets have been at the center of the project Hidden Treasures \u2014 an <secret text=\"Assyria was an ancient kingdom in the northern part of Mesopotamia\">Assyriological<\/secret> research collaboration between the University of Copenhagen and the National Museum of Denmark, aimed at making the museum\u2019s collection of cuneiform tablets accessible to both specialists and the general public.<\/p>\n<h3>A surprisingly fascinating receipt<\/h3>\n<p>The reason for today\u2019s visit is that the project has now reached its final goal: the collection has been digitized, and anyone interested in ancient cuneiform can now explore it online via the <a href=\"https:\/\/cdli.earth\/\">Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative<\/a>. The collection has also been published in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mtp.dk\/details.asp?eln=203944\">book form<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbIt has been really exciting that we\u2019ve had the opportunity to examine the collection as a whole. Previously, it was mainly specialists with specific interests who studied small selections of the texts \u2014 never the entire collection,\u00ab says Troels Pank Arb\u00f8ll, Associate Professor of Assyriology at the University of Copenhagen, who has worked on the project together with six other researchers.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>A receipt is not exactly mind-blowing on its own, but when we gather a large number of texts like this, a bigger picture emerges<\/p>\n<p class=\"quotee\">Troels Pank Arb\u00f8ll, Associate Professor, Assyriology<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p>The National Museum of Denmark\u2019s cuneiform collection consists of 241 inscribed objects from a range of different periods, discovered in Iraq, Syria, and Iran. Some are around 4,500 years old, and they vary widely in type \u2014 from medical texts and magical incantations to simple receipts.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbA receipt is not exactly mind-blowing on its own, but when we gather a large number of texts like this, a bigger picture emerges. That allows us to carry out quantitative analyses that are quite fascinating. You gain very advanced insights into the economic and cultural structures of these societies,\u00ab he explains.<\/p>\n<h3>An iPhone in clay<\/h3>\n<p>I\u2019m not sure what I had expected. Still, I feel slightly underwhelmed when Troels Pank Arb\u00f8ll brings out the valuable clay tablets.<\/p>\n<p>They are quite small \u2014 no larger than a modern iPhone \u2014 and if you didn\u2019t know better, you might think they were ordinary stones with random markings, like something you might stumble upon along Denmark\u2019s west coast.<\/p>\n<p>The associate professor laughs when I mention that the tablets are smaller than I had imagined.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Read also:<\/strong> <em><a href=\"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/he-taught-himself-elvish-as-a-child-now-he-is-to-solve-an-ancient-enigma-in-mexico\/\">He taught himself ‘Elvish’ as a child. Now he is to solve an ancient enigma in Mexico<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u00bbMost people think they are huge tablets, but in many cases they\u2019re really not bigger than this,\u00ab he says.<\/p>\n<p>Their size does nothing to diminish his enthusiasm, which is evident as he recounts the story behind the small objects.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbCuneiform \u2014 along with hieroglyphs \u2014 is the world\u2019s earliest writing system. It was used across different languages from around 3200 BCE until roughly 80 CE. That\u2019s a span of more than 3,000 years, which makes tablets like these a vast historical laboratory.\u00ab<\/p>\n<h3>The crack of doom<\/h3>\n<p>Some of the tablets are small, solid pieces of clay with inscriptions. Others are assembled like complex puzzles \u2014 tablets that broke in antiquity and were later reconstructed and glued together by conservators after excavation, Arb\u00f8ll explains.<\/p>\n<p>To preserve them, the tablets have been fired and hardened in modern times. This makes them relatively robust, but they can still break occasionally.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbI\u2019ve never damaged anything myself, but I\u2019ve heard horror stories from abroad about tablets breaking while a researcher was holding them. Some call it \u2018the crack of doom\u2019 \u2014 when an internal, invisible fracture suddenly causes the tablet to split in two,\u00ab he says.<\/p>\n<p>When that happens \u2014 and it does from time to time \u2014 there is no alternative but to have a conservator glue it back together.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"Image","image":{"ID":189953,"id":189953,"title":"lertavler (3 of 1)","filename":"lertavler3of1-scaled.jpg","filesize":503391,"url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/lertavler3of1-scaled.jpg","link":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/?attachment_id=189953","alt":"","author":"99","description":"","caption":"Troels Pank Arb\u00f8ll er lektor i Assyriologi p\u00e5 KU. ","name":"lertavler-3-of-1","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":189948,"date":"2026-04-21 12:29:08","modified":"2026-04-21 12:53:21","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":2560,"height":1707,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/lertavler3of1-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/lertavler3of1-480x320.jpg","medium-width":480,"medium-height":320,"medium_large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/lertavler3of1-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/lertavler3of1-1280x853.jpg","large-width":1280,"large-height":853,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/lertavler3of1-1536x1024.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/lertavler3of1-2048x1365.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1365,"featured-soft":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/lertavler3of1-290x193.jpg","featured-soft-width":290,"featured-soft-height":193,"featured-hard":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/lertavler3of1-290x180.jpg","featured-hard-width":290,"featured-hard-height":180,"narrow":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/lertavler3of1-700x467.jpg","narrow-width":700,"narrow-height":467,"extended":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/lertavler3of1-990x660.jpg","extended-width":990,"extended-height":660}},"style":"extended","text_placement":"metadata-below","image_link_url":"","image_link_title":"","caption_prefix":"","enable_alternative_caption":true,"alternative_caption":"Troels Pank Arb\u00f8ll is an Associate Professor in Assyriology at University of Copenhagen. "},{"acf_fc_layout":"Content","content":"<p>\u00bbThere will always be a risk in handling them. In principle, it might be better to leave them untouched. But if we want to conduct research, teach, and communicate knowledge, we have to make a judgment about when it\u2019s worth it.\u00ab<\/p>\n<h3>Similar to Chinese<\/h3>\n<p>It takes training and a keen eye to decipher what the many small markings are trying to convey. When reading cuneiform, scholars follow a specific procedure, shining a strong light across the top of the tablet so the shadows fall correctly, Arb\u00f8ll explains.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Read also:<\/strong> <em><a href=\"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/the-last-indologist-fortunately-there-are-still-places-in-the-world-that-havent-given-up-on-history\/\">The last indologist: \u00bbFortunately, there are still places in the world that haven\u2019t given up on history\u00ab<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>They then draw what they see by hand, creating a copy that makes it easier to interpret the overall structure of the signs and words.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbCuneiform is somewhat similar to what we know from Chinese today. Individual signs can represent sounds in the language they are written in, but they can also function as ideograms \u2014 representing entire words or concepts,\u00ab he explains.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbThat\u2019s why interpreting it can feel a bit like solving a puzzle. There are no spaces between words, but at least there are line breaks, and you read from left to right, just like we do.\u00ab<\/p>\n<h3>A message from a hothead<\/h3>\n<p>Most of the clay tablets at ToRS are on loan from the National Museum of Denmark and represent part of a letter archive discovered and excavated by Danish researchers in 1957, later gifted to Denmark by the Iraqi state. They originate from the first Assyrian kingdom in northern Iraq, dating to around 1800 BCE.<\/p>\n<p>The letters were mostly dictated by the king, Shamshi-Adad, to various subordinates who needed to be kept in line one way or another.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>It\u2019s a gift to science that helps preserve the material for the future<\/p>\n<p class=\"quotee\">Troels Pank Arb\u00f8ll, Associate Professor, Assyriology<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Troels Pank Arb\u00f8ll demonstrates how to read a cuneiform letter.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbThis is a letter that begins with an introductory formula: \u2018to\u2019 followed by a name \u2014 Kuwari. Then comes the formula \u2018qibima,\u2019 which means \u2018say!\u2019 \u2014 typically \u2018say to someone.\u2019 In other words, the content of this letter is to be delivered to Kuwari,\u00ab he explains.<\/p>\n<p>Kuwari was a local ruler in a mountainous region of the kingdom during a time when Shamshi-Adad was expanding his territory. However, many people already lived in the mountains and were moving in and out of the kingdom.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbThe king wasn\u2019t particularly interested in having all these people entering freely, so in the letter he orders Kuwari to deal with them,\u00ab Arb\u00f8ll says.<\/p>\n<p>The letter is written as a quotation \u2014 someone else is writing while the king dictates.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbAnd it\u2019s quite entertaining to read, because Shamshi-Adad in particular has a tendency to get angry. You can see it in the letters when the grammar suddenly starts to break down because he\u2019s standing there ranting,\u00ab Arb\u00f8ll says with a laugh.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbHe doesn\u2019t swear directly in the letters, but the wording becomes more abrupt and clipped.\u00ab<\/p>\n<h3>Antiquity forever<\/h3>\n<p>Troels Pank Arb\u00f8ll is pleased that this vast puzzle of ancient correspondence is now available online for everyone.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbDigitization serves several purposes. It makes the material accessible online, so anyone interested can explore it and get a sense of these objects. It also allows colleagues around the world to gain almost full access,\u00ab he says.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbIt\u2019s never quite the same as holding them in your hands, but it comes close,\u00ab he adds.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbIt\u2019s actually quite straightforward to carry out digitization, and it\u2019s a gift to science that helps preserve the material for the future. That\u2019s why the platform also encourages as many institutions as possible to begin digitizing.\u00ab<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"Image","image":{"ID":189949,"id":189949,"title":"lertavler (1 of 1)","filename":"lertavler1of1-scaled.jpg","filesize":749844,"url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/lertavler1of1-scaled.jpg","link":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/?attachment_id=189949","alt":"","author":"99","description":"","caption":"Et udpluk af de tavler, der er p\u00e5 udl\u00e5n fra Nationalmuseet og stammer fra danske udgravninger i Irak. 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