17 July 2026

Photo: The Trustees of the British Museum CC BY-BC-SA 4.0 (BM 108569)

Fragment of a Hittite treaty between Muwattalli II of the Hatti and Alakshandu of Wilusa, Hattusa (Hattusha), 1300 BCE.

What can cuneiform tablets from Mesopotamia tell us about life in ancient times? In her blog, Assyriologist Cécile Michel shares a wealth of stories from the earliest writing culture. Eight new episodes have now been published in English.

Learning to write is a formative event in a person’s life. This was no different 4,000 years ago, when writing itself was still a relatively new invention. In ancient Mesopotamia, literacy was remarkably advanced. In a new episode of her blog, ‘Mesopotamian Bulletins’, Assyriologist Cécile Michel explains why that was the case and how and for what purpose people learned to write in those days. This is just one of the many facets of everyday life and writing at the time that she illuminates in her concise, accessible articles. Why did people believe that the treatment of toothache had to go back to the origin of the world? What was the situation regarding gender relations? What messages from the gods did people recognise in the constellations?

The blog also frequently addresses Assyriology as a discipline and its history. New episodes cover topics such as the first attempts in the 19th century to decipher cuneiform writing, and whether and to what extent AI will support Assyriologists in the future.

The ‘Mesopotamian Bulletins’ are published in their original French version. Selected episodes appear in English translation on the CSMC website.