Researchers have made a remarkable discovery of a previously unknown hymn dating back approximately 3,000 years to around 1000 BCE. This ancient text was unearthed by LMU Professor Enrique Jiménez, who utilized artificial intelligence to identify 30 related manuscripts during a collaborative effort with the University of Baghdad.
Professor Jiménez noted, “It”s a fascinating hymn that describes Babylon in all its majesty and provides insights into the lives of its inhabitants, both male and female.” Founded in Mesopotamia around 2000 BCE, Babylon was once the largest city in the world and served as a vibrant center of culture and learning. Many literary works originating from this city remain integral to humanity”s literary heritage.
The people of Babylon recorded their texts using cuneiform on clay tablets, with most of these surviving only in fragments. One of the goals of the partnership with the University of Baghdad is to study and preserve hundreds of tablets from the famed Sippar Library. According to legend, these texts were hidden there by Noah to protect them from floodwaters before he embarked on the ark.
Through the “Electronic Babylonian Library Platform,” Jiménez is engaged in a project to digitize all known cuneiform fragments worldwide. The use of artificial intelligence has been crucial in matching and reconstructing fragments that belong to the same texts. “Using our AI-supported platform, we identified 30 other manuscripts related to the rediscovered hymn—a process that would have previously taken decades,” stated Jiménez, who is a Professor of Ancient Near Eastern Literatures at LMU”s Institute of Assyriology.
The discovery of these manuscripts allowed researchers to reconstruct and fully decipher the ancient hymn of praise. Jiménez described the hymn as one that was commonly copied by children in schools, which makes it unusual that such a widely known text had remained unknown until now.
This hymn, which likely dates from the early first millennium BCE, consists of about 250 lines. The author, a Babylonian individual, intended to praise his city, vividly depicting its buildings and the nurturing waters of the Euphrates River, which brought spring and verdant fields. “This is particularly notable as surviving Mesopotamian literature is often sparse in its descriptions of natural phenomena,” remarked Jiménez.
The hymn also offers new perspectives on the role of women in Babylonian society, illustrating their positions as priestesses and their associated duties—information that has astonished experts due to the lack of prior texts detailing these aspects. Furthermore, the hymn reflects the coexistence within urban society, describing the inhabitants” respectful attitudes toward foreigners.
The ruins of ancient Babylon are located approximately 85 kilometers south of Baghdad and are recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Here is an excerpt from the newly discovered hymn, which describes the Euphrates River, on whose banks Babylon was situated:
The Euphrates is her river – established by wise lord Nudimmud – It quenches the lea, saturates the canebrake, Disgorges its waters into lagoon and sea, Its fields burgeon with herbs and flowers, Its meadows, in brilliant bloom, sprout barley, From which, gathered, sheaves are stacked, Herds and flocks lie on verdant pastures, Wealth and splendor – what befit mankind – Are bestowed, multiplied, and regally granted.
This groundbreaking work is detailed in “Literary texts from the Sippar Library V: A hymn in praise of Babylon and the Babylonians,” authored by Anmar A. Fadhil and Enrique Jiménez, published on March 17, 2025.
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