A Dictionary of Akkadian

Akkadian was the dominant language of the ancient civilization of Mesopotamia. It was the lingua franca in the Ancient Near East for several centuries. It was gradually replaced by Aramaic. It faded into oblivion once Alexander the Great Hellenized (Greekified) the region and in modern times we had no dictionary to decode it.

But, after 90 years of work, scholars at the University of Chicago finally published in 2011 a 21-volume dictionary of Akkadian.

Unspoken for 2,000 years, Akkadian was preserved on clay tablets and in stone inscriptions until scholars deciphered it.

Gilgamesh was a historical king of the Sumerian city-state of Uruk, a major hero in ancient Mesopotamian mythology, and the protagonist of the Epic of Gilgamesh, an epic poem written in Akkadian during the late second millennium BC.

Composed of many stories, the connected narrative that is the Akkadian Epic of Gilgamesh was composed by a scribe named Sîn-lēqi-unninni, probably during the Middle Babylonian Period (c. 1600 – c. 1155 BC). The source material is much older.

In the epic, Gilgamesh is a demigod of superhuman strength who befriends the wildman Enkidu, and together, they go on adventures.

Gilgamesh is considered one of the masterpieces of world literature. As a half-god and half-man, his isolation from both worlds turns him into a cruel tyrant over the citizens of Uruk. To impress them forever he orders a great wall to be built, driving his people to exhaustion and despair so that they cry to the Sun God for help.

The Sun God's response is to to send to Earth another kind of man, Enkidu, to live among the animals and learn kindness from them. He falls in love with Shamhat, a singer from the temple, and he follows her back to Uruk. There, Enkidu, the “uncivilized” beast from the forest, shows the evil Gilgamesh through friendship what it means to be human.

The Mystery of Ambrose Bierce

Quotation, noun: The act of repeating erroneously the words of another.
― Ambrose Bierce, The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914), was a friend and rival of Mark Twain and one of nineteenth-century America's most renowned satirists. A Union veteran of the Civil War, he became one of the best-known writers and journalists in the country.

Bierce's book The Devil's Dictionary was named as one of "The 100 Greatest Masterpieces of American Literature" by the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration.

His story "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" has been described as "one of the most famous and frequently anthologized stories in American literature." Author Kurt Vonnegut wrote: "... I consider anybody a twerp who hasn't read the greatest American short story, which is '[An] Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,' by Ambrose Bierce. It isn't remotely political. It is a flawless example of American genius, like 'Sophisticated Lady' by Duke Ellington or the Franklin stove."

His The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary of epigrams, essays, verses, and vignettes targets the religious, the romantic, the political, and the economic, in equal measure.


Acquaintance, n.: A person whom we know well enough to borrow from but not well enough to lend to.
Bride, n.: A woman with a great future behind her.
Consult, v: To seek another's approval of a course already decided on.

Bierce employed a distinctive style of writing, especially in his stories. This style often embraces an abrupt beginning, dark imagery, vague references to time, limited descriptions, the theme of war, and impossible events.

One of the best known things about Bierce is something we don't know - how he died.

In October 1913, Bierce, then age 71, departed from Washington, D.C. for a tour of his old Civil War battlefields. By December he had passed through Louisiana and Texas, crossing by way of El Paso into Mexico, which was in the throes of revolution.

He joined Pancho Villa's army as an observer, and in that role he witnessed the Battle of Tierra Blanca and made it as far as the city of Chihuahua. His last known communication with the world was a [purported] letter he wrote there dated December 26 which ended "As to me, I leave here tomorrow for an unknown destination."

He vanished without a trace, his disappearance becoming one of the most famous in American literary history. An official investigation by U.S. consular officials found nothing.

Bierce's friend and biographer Walter Neale said that Bierce had not ridden horses for quite some time, was suffering from serious asthma, and had been severely critical of Pancho Villa, and so concluded that it would have been highly unlikely for Bierce to have gone to Mexico and joined Villa.

Despite a lack of hard evidence that Bierce had gone to Mexico, there is also none that he had not. Therefore, despite an abundance of theories (including suicide), his end remains a mystery.

The edition of his dictionary shown here is illustrated by Ralph Steadman. This artist, writer, sculptor, political cartoonist, and designer of labels for vintage wines, is the author/illustrator of the novel Doodaaa, as well as the illustrator of Lewis Carroll's Alice, George Orwell's Animal Farm, and Hunter S Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.