Anshe's Room
I have been nagging my old master, Dubsar the Cuneiform Scribe, about giving me more world-wide attention since, as his old donkey and assistant, I do a lot of work around here. I asked for my own pages to show our world-wide visitors the importance of the non-human inhabitants of Nippur and other Sumerian cities. The humans would not make much progress without the help of their non-human friends, such as donkeys, sheep, goats, oxen, and fish. Although donkeys are a little slow with a two-button mouse for obvious reasons, I have finished a few informative pages. I am quite an enterprising equid and have discovered various facts about the place of animals in ancient Sumerian and Akkadian society and economy.
Anshe and his colleagues at work
Take a look at these interesting pages about the important non-human contributors to Sumerian culture and let us know what you think.
- Dubsar is not the only one with his own cuneiform tablet collection. I have been gathering some tablets also. Here is a special, very old tablet that I traveled over 100 kilometers (each way) to get. Take a look at this tablet that I use to remind Dubsar to feed the hungry (donkeys!).
- Dubsar and I wrote up a review on a really neat book that shows how much archaeologists can learn from dry old bones. This is quite an informative book. Check out the Lessons from Old Bones.
- Do you summon the waiter or waitress at the restaurant with "Hey You!" or do you show the courtesy of using their name? Animals at Old Babylonian Nippur had names too! Learn the names of several non-human inhabitants at Nippur at Knowing Your Cattle by Name!
I am happy to make friends with nice humans. My favorite treat consists of dates dipped in honey. Just thought you might want to know that. There are many other interesting pages on this site about the center of the world forty centuries ago.
Click on these links to navigate our site:
- To find the most official point of view from the great king, enter the Royal Display Room.
- To see Nippur through the eyes of explorer and excavator John Punnett Peters, first modern archaeologist at Nippur, visit our Earth-Moving Room.
- To help visualize the location and layout of Nippur, visit the Map Room.
- To learn more about ancient Nippur, discover the resources in the Reading Room, or study the bigger picture of cuneiform culture at the Reading Room's Cultural Annex.
- To get an overview of Nippur, go to the Broad Vista Room.
- To evaluate the specialization of labor and professionalism at ancient Nippur, take a look in the Professional Room.
- To sneak up for a close look at "the establishment," step into the Establishment Room.
- After you have wandered through the rooms of Dubsar's abode, try your hand at the Nippur Quiz. JavaScript required. Two levels now available.
- Return to the home page of Dubsar, the Cuneiform Scribe.
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This page was edited on 31 December 2000. If you have cuneiform questions or comments, please email Dubsar, the Cuneiform Scribe. If I do not respond promptly, the vendor supplying Fortune City's email service may be eating your mail for lunch. In that case, you can give a shout over to Dubsar's Sand Dune to get my attention. Thanks! � 1999 Erasmus Compositor, P.O. Box 25958, Baltimore, MD 21224.
The representation of Anshe and his colleagues is taken from Friedrich Delitzsch, Handel und Wandel in Altbabylonien, Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 1910, p. 8.