Scientists from Tyumen State University (Tyumen State University) are researching the texts of ancient Sumerian literature. The tasks of the scientific group include creating a library of texts using Unicode - universal codes that display Sumerian-Akkadian symbols in electronic form, Sergei Grigorishin, associate professor of the Department of Archeology, History of the Ancient World and the Middle Ages, Tyumen State University, told TASS on Tuesday.
“Until now, the corpus of Sumerian literature in the original cuneiform version has not been published in its entirety, there are editions of individual hymns, songs, proverbs, but the complete collection does not exist. The goal of the research group is to systematically type each of the literary texts in cuneiform characters using the unicode system. Thus, the entire corpus of cuneiform literary texts will be available in digital format. A site with a database of Sumerian texts is already being created, which will be offered to leading universities as an addition to the existing resources,”Grigorishin said.
He noted that for the full implementation of the project, collaboration with specialists from other countries is necessary. “We have been dealing with this topic for more than five years. Within the framework of the project, clay tablets with ancient Babylonian and New Assyrian texts will be studied and entered into the database using a special computer program for a set of symbols. But there are also difficulties, for example, all the symbols that exist in cuneiform are not displayed in Unicode, there are some discrepancies, so we will also need to resolve this issue,”the scientist added.
According to Grigorishin, the resulting library of literary texts will be available to everyone who is interested in this topic. “The resource will be open to everyone. We strive to accustom the reader to the idea that by reading only the translation, he receives only an incomplete reflection of the source. Working with the original source itself, the reader can immerse himself in the text more deeply and in more detail, the more the system will be built in an understandable and accessible way,”he said.
Sumerian literature - literature in the Sumerian language, created in Ancient Mesopotamia in the III - early II millennium BC. e. Claims (together with the ancient Egyptian) for the title of the oldest literature in the world. The texts have come down to us in the form of cuneiform records on clay tablets.