LUM Uses AI to Digitize Babylonian Cuneiform Tablets
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU) researchers are employing artificial intelligence and a large database to piece together and digitize fragments of ancient Mesopotamian cuneiform tablets. The project will release over 300,000 lines of previously unpublished text in February 2023.
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU) is undertaking a project to digitize and reconstruct ancient Babylonian literature using artificial intelligence. The "Electronic Babylonian Literature" project aims to gather all known fragments of cuneiform tablets and make them comprehensible through a new algorithm.
The recently developed AI-powered algorithm can piece together millennia-old text fragments that were previously unlocatable or unconnectable. Professor Enrique Jiménez, who heads LMU's Department of Ancient Near Eastern Literatures, has spearheaded the development of this system, which has already successfully identified hundreds of new manuscripts and textual connections.
The project's main release is scheduled for February 2023, when the AI database and digital edition will be made public. This release includes over 300,000 lines of cuneiform text, a significant portion of which has never been published before, marking the largest text publication in the history of cuneiform studies. Alongside this, complete electronic editions of key texts such as the Babylonian creation myth and the Epic of Gilgamesh will also be published.
The project's findings and database will be publicly accessible, providing researchers and history enthusiasts with access to an extensive collection of ancient literature. LMU states that this advancement opens new avenues for the study and understanding of ancient Mesopotamian literary works.