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Amanda Hills Podany

@ahpodany.bsky.social

1.6K followers 310 following 63 posts

Author of Weavers, Scribes, and Kings, Professor Emeritus of History at Cal Poly Pomona, Assyriologist, and occasional bass player

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Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · Nov 30

With many new followers, I thought I should introduce myself! I'm an ancient historian and author of 5 books, including Weavers, Scribes, and Kings (2022). It explores the Middle East from 3500-323 BCE, through the lives of real people--rich and poor, old and young, women and men. Audiobook as well!

Book cover showing a sculpture of an ancient king carrying a basket on his head, against a brown background, overlaid with the text: "Weavers, Scribes, and Kings: A New HIstory of the Ancient Near East, Amanda H. Podany"

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Reposted by Amanda Hills Podany

Oxford Academic @oxfordacademic.bsky.social · Sep 9

Your favorites, now available in paperback. From sweeping histories that span continents to deep dives into our digital lives, this season’s paperback releases offer something for every kind of reader.

US: oxford.ly/4m05rMw

UK: oxford.ly/4lW1eJL

New in Paperback this Autumn with a variety of covers from Oxford University Press

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Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · Aug 26

Evidence for what seems to be an engineered flood in Mesopotamia c. 2350 BCE, which "illustrates how critical infrastructure for irrigation and transportation could be deliberately exploited to exacerbate the environmental and economic impacts of warfare." #Mesopotamia @paulczimmerman.bsky.social

Paul Zimmerman @paulczimmerman.bsky.social · Aug 26

Hot off the presses! Here’s a new article that I co-authored with my Lagash Archaeological Project colleagues on a geoarchaeological study of what we believe to be evidence of hydrological warfare in the Third Millennium BCE.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

The Flooding of Lagash (Iraq): Evidence for Urban Destruction Under Lugalzagesi, the King of Uruk and Umma

High-resolution remote sensing, magnetometry, and trench stratigraphy identify a significant flood event at Lagash (modern Tell al-Hiba) during the late Early Dynastic period (ca. 2400–2350 BC). Sate...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · Aug 16

Proverb: etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcs..., number 3.6. Image: The Met 32.39.3, Old Babylonian plaque of two bull men flanking a tree: www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...

Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · Aug 16

Almost 4,000 years before Beckett, two men were already waiting for Godot: '"I will go today" is what a herdsman says; "I will go tomorrow" is what a shepherd-boy says. "I will go" is "I will go", and the time passes.' (Sumerian proverb) #Mesopotamia #cuneiform #waitingforgodot, links in comment

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Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · Aug 16

Almost 4,000 years before Beckett, two men were already been waiting for Godot: '"I will go today" is what a herdsman says; "I will go tomorrow" is what a shepherd-boy says. "I will go" is "I will go", and the time passes.' (Sumerian proverb) #Mesopotamia #cuneiform #Godot, links in comment

Old Babylonian terra cotta plaque showing two divine male figures next to a tree

Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · Aug 13

Translation of this and other Sumerian proverbs: etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcs...

The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature

etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk

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Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · Aug 13

"The dog understands: 'Take it!' It does not understand: 'Put it down!'" True 3,900 years ago when a young Mesopotamian scribe copied the proverb onto a round school tablet; still true today! #cuneiform #Mesopotamia #dogs Tablet: BM U.17207.77, CDLI P346305; sculpture: Louvre AO 4349, CDLI P386356

Circular clay tablet with three lines of cuneiform text across the middle. Modern ID in ink at the bottom reads UET 6/225

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Reposted by Amanda Hills Podany

Oxford Academic @oxfordacademic.bsky.social · Jul 25

What was life like for kings, priestesses, merchants, brickmakers, musicians, and weavers in the ancient Near East?

Discover their stories through the voices of real people who lived thousands of years ago. Now in paperback: global.oup.com/academic/pro...

Weavers, Scribes, and Kings. Oxford University Press

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Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · Jul 21

One of the earliest cities in southern Mesopotamia proves to have been home to a huge network of canals for about 5,000 years (though not all the canals were in use at the same time). This fascinating research was done by Jaafar Jotheri and colleagues.

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Identifying the preserved network of irrigation canals in the Eridu region, southern Mesopotamia | Antiquity | Cambridge Core

Identifying the preserved network of irrigation canals in the Eridu region, southern Mesopotamia - Volume 99 Issue 405

www.cambridge.org

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Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · Jun 16

Thanks! I hope so! Mesopotamian history really is fascinating!

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Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · May 25

Felt it in Koreatown

Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · Apr 22

Thanks for recommending my book! And I agree about @moudhy.bsky.social 's as well. No space aliens construct anything in either!

Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · Mar 17

These new documents from Girsu (written on clay, of course, not stone as the URL suggests) sound fascinating! The scribes "note absolutely everything down. If a sheep dies at the very edge of the empire, it will be noted. They are obsessed with bureaucracy.”
www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

‘Spreadsheets of empire’: red tape goes back 4,000 years, say scientists after Iraq finds

Ancient Mesopotamian stone tablets show extraordinary detail and reach of government in cradle of world civilisations

www.theguardian.com

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Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · Mar 17

Thanks! For Mesopotamian mathematics, Mathematics in Ancient Iraq by @eleanorrobson.bsky.social is a fabulous resource: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

Mathematics in Ancient Iraq

press.princeton.edu

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Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · Mar 15

For more details about the mercurial Rishiya, see Ziegler, N. 2011. “Music, the Work of Professionals” in Oxford Handbook of Cuneiform Culture, K. Radner and E. Robson, eds., 290-295. The image I posted is not him, but another male musician of the same era.

Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · Mar 15

Rishiya, the chief musician at Mari c. 1760s BCE, served under King Yasmah-Addu. Surprisingly, he was retained by Y-A's antagonist and successor, Zimri-Lim, even though Rishiya had neglected his allocated farmland, which had been taken away from him. He must have been a terrific musician!

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Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · Feb 28

Research by my daughter @podanymd.bsky.social just published in @jama.com Network Open. Important work (and proud mom moment!)

Emily Podany MD @podanymd.bsky.social · Feb 28

Out now in @jama.com Network Open: We evaluated racial differences in ctDNA profiles and disparities in targeted treatment use and outcomes in metastatic breast cancer in a large multi-institution cohort. (1/5) jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Racial Differences in ctDNA Profiles and Therapy in Metastatic Breast Cancer

This cohort study evaluates whether genomic profiles and targeted treatment use differ between Black and White patients with metastatic breast cancer.

jamanetwork.com

Reposted by Amanda Hills Podany

Prof Christina Pagel @chrischirp.bsky.social · Feb 20

“The possible existence of a second, and most likely intact, tomb of Thutmose II is an astonishing possibility.”

where's Indiana Jones when you need him?

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/f...

Archaeologists discover first pharaoh’s tomb in Egypt in more than a century

Uncovering tomb of Thutmose II hailed as most significant discovery since Tutankhamun in 1922

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Amanda Hills Podany

Nina Willburger @drnwillburger.bsky.social · Feb 18

New discovery: First discovery of a royal tomb since King Tutankhamun's was found over a century ago. A joint Egyptian-British archaeological team has uncovered the tomb of King Thutmose II, the last missing royal tomb of the 18th Dynasty.

english.ahram.org.eg/News/540638....

🏺 AncientEgyptBluesky

A photo of the discovery: A chamber with a lot of debris.

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Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · Feb 16

Sunrise at the Temple of Bel in Palmyra was one of the most beautiful sights I've ever experienced; golden Roman columns glowing against the deep blue sky, serene and seemingly timeless. This new report on the damage to Palmyra in recent years is devastating.
phys.org/news/2025-02...

Report documents devastation of ancient city of Palmyra, a World Heritage Site, after the fall of the Assad regime

Palmyra is one of the most famous sites in Syria for its extraordinary heritage and archaeological remains. Inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1980, the city saw much of its heritage destroyed du...

phys.org

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Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · Feb 15

That's wild. It could be!

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Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · Feb 15

Fascinating! Thanks!

Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · Feb 15

I suspect Google's AI was the source of the crossword clue, though I have no idea where the AI summary got this!

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Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · Feb 15

Interesting! Do we have any idea where this prisoner came from?

Amanda Hills Podany @ahpodany.bsky.social · Feb 15

But the absolute dates of tablets from Emar are hard to determine and the significance of the two styles of writing is debated by scholars. So perhaps it might turn out that the twin boys did survive and learn to be scribes and novice diviners. I hope so! (But names repeated so we can't really know)