Image: Assyriologist Troels Pank Arbøll

Ishtartv.com - syriacpress.com

 18/04/2026

DENMARK — Under the title “Hidden Treasures: The National Museum’s Collection of Cuneiform Tablets,” researchers from the National Museum of Denmark and the University of Copenhagen have begun assembling a vast collection of inscribed clay tablets from the earliest civilizations of the ancient Near East. Following extensive study, the team has successfully analyzed, identified, and fully digitized this documentary corpus.

The tablets contain texts written in cuneiform script, many of which date back more than 4,000 years. They include anti-witchcraft rituals intended to protect Assyrian kings, poetic beer receipts, and dynastic lists referencing the legendary king Gilgamesh, LBV Magazine reports.

According to researcher Troels Pank Arbøll, the collection had remained neglected in museum storage for over a century. However, the application of digital methods and linguistic research has enabled Assyriologists to classify a diverse range of documents, including accounting records, letters, medical treatments, and a series of historically significant magical incantations.

A small yet highly important subset of the tablets originates from the Syrian city of Hemto (Hama), which was a focal point of a Danish expedition in the 1930s. The city was destroyed and looted in 720 BC by Assyrian warriors, who transported the spoils to their capital, Ashur, in present-day Iraq. During their withdrawal, some clay tablets were left behind, later becoming part of the Nordic museum’s collection.

Archaeologists believe that these tablets were once part of a vast temple library. Assyriologist Arbøll explained that all other texts from the collection have completely disappeared, underscoring the exceptional nature of these discoveries, as virtually no other cuneiform tablets addressing such subjects have been found in the region.

Among the texts from the city of Hemto, one in particular drew the researchers’ attention. It contains an anti-witchcraft ritual of major importance to royal authority in Assyria, due to its perceived power to ward off misfortune, including political unrest that could threaten the king.

The ritual was reportedly performed over the course of an entire night and involved burning small figurines made of wax and clay, while an exorcist recited a fixed sequence of incantations. Researchers were surprised to find such a text far from the center of the Assyrian Empire and the culturally rich hubs of Babylonia, given that Hemto lay on the periphery of these regions.

In addition to the incantations, the collection also revealed a discovery of both historical and mythological significance. Researchers identified a copy of a well-known royal list, a first-rate political document that records both legendary and historical kings, some of whom are said to have ruled before the time of Noah and the Flood.

The tablet housed at the National Museum of Denmark is an educational text listing kings who ruled at the end of the third millennium BC. Other versions of this list include Gilgamesh, the hero of the famous Epic of Gilgamesh. As such, the list is considered one of the few sources suggesting that Gilgamesh may have existed as a real historical figure. Commenting on the discovery, Assyriologist Arbøll said: “We had no idea that we possessed a copy of that list here in Denmark. It is quite spectacular.”

Another group of analyzed texts originates from Danish excavations conducted in 1957 at the site of Tell Shemshara, in present-day northern Iraq. These tablets consist of correspondence between a local chief and an Assyrian king dating to around 1800 BC, in addition to a collection of administrative records.

Arbøll also noted that a large number of the cuneiform tablets preserved today testify to the existence of a sophisticated administrative apparatus, one that was essential for governing the advanced urban societies that were emerging at the time.