Post #1575706

2026-04-08 13:54 UTC

I’m currently reading Weavers, Scribes, and Kings: A New History of the Ancient Near East and one of the earliest examples we have of someone using cuneiform to actually write words instead of just recording pictographs of goods is a scribe who was totaling up goods and who signed his name on his lists, and apparently one of the only things we know about him from his record keeping was that he was bad at math

Replies (5)

@checkervest@laserdisc.party 2026-04-08 13:54

Imagine doing some sums, realizing you flubbed it, and thinking “well in the grand scheme of things what does it matter” and 5,500 years later some scholar’s like writing a research paper like “damn this guy sure was bad at math”

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@lapis@elekk.xyz 2026-04-08 14:01

@checkervest also adding this book to my tbr thanks

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@clew@ecoevo.social 2026-04-09 01:36

Such a good book! Illustrations in the print edition and the audiobook is read by the author. not in shouty auditorium voice; in wry affectionate seminar lecture voice. It’s wonderful. @checkervest

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@btrinen@social.seattle.wa.us 2026-04-09 01:38

@checkervest I loved that book. Just the way it looks into the lives of ordinary people from so long ago. It really brings their culture to life in a way that a history of Kings never can.

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@coriander@elekk.xyz 2026-04-09 01:45

@checkervest I feel like we can excuse this poor guy for being bad at math, he was probably one of the first to try it

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