sisterofiris:

The Poor Man of Nippur is a short film produced by the Assyriology Department of the University of Cambridge. Based on the text of an almost 3000-year-old tablet, it tells the story of Gimil-Ninurta, a poor man who takes revenge on the city mayor after said mayor cheated him.

The special part? The film isn’t a translation. It’s entirely in the Akkadian language.

While the budget is evidently small, the result is fantastic and I highly encourage anyone interested in ancient history to watch it. It’s through efforts like these that the languages and cultures of Mesopotamia are brought to life – or rather, that the world at large is reminded they are far from dead. From The Poor Man of Nippur, to Ancient Text Modern Tablet’s replicas of cuneiform texts for sale, to @mostlydeadlanguages‘s translations, to my own recordings of ancient prayers and poetry, Mesopotamia lives on and is as approachable, thought-provoking, and often funny as ever.