Cuneiform tool 1

Write your name in cuneiform

The scribes of Ur wrote words as syllables pressed into wet clay with a reed: ba, ri, am. Type your name and see how a scribe might have spelled it.

Akkadian, the language written in cuneiform, had no o, f, v or j sounds, so the scribe uses the nearest ones. This is a playful phonetic spelling, not a translation. A specialist might choose different signs.

Cuneiform tool 2

Count like they did in Ur

Scribes needed only two wedges: a tall one worth 1 and a sideways one worth 10. After 59, they started a new place worth sixty, the way we start a new column after 9.

Try 60 and 3,600, then try this year.