Researchers have used artificial intelligence to rediscover and reconstruct a hymn from around 1000 BCE that praises the ancient city of Babylon. The text, pieced together from fragments worldwide, offers rare insights into the city's daily life, societal values, and women's roles. Professor Enrique Jiménez of LMU led the effort in collaboration with the University of Baghdad.
A long-lost hymn dating back to around 1000 BCE has been identified and fully reconstructed using artificial intelligence. Professor Enrique Jiménez of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU) uncovered the text and linked it to 30 additional manuscripts scattered across the world. This breakthrough came through a partnership with the University of Baghdad, focusing on deciphering cuneiform tablets from the Sippar Library.
Babylon, founded around 2000 BCE in Mesopotamia, grew into the largest city of its era and a hub of culture and scholarship. The hymn, inscribed on clay tablets that survived only in fragments, glorifies the city's majesty, beauty, prosperity, and inclusivity. "It's a fascinating hymn that describes Babylon in all its majesty and gives insights into the lives of its inhabitants, male and female," Jiménez explained.
The Electronic Babylonian Library Platform, developed by Jiménez's team, digitally archives known cuneiform fragments globally. AI algorithms matched the pieces, a task that "would formerly have taken decades," according to Jiménez, who teaches at LMU's Institute of Assyriology. The reconstructed poem spans around 250 lines and was widely copied, even by schoolchildren, indicating its popularity in ancient times.
The text vividly portrays urban buildings and the life-giving waters of the Euphrates River, which brought spring and greened the fields—a rare descriptive element in Mesopotamian literature. It also highlights women's priestly roles, previously undocumented, and a society that emphasized respect and hospitality toward foreigners. "The hymn was copied by children at school. It's unusual that such a popular text in its day was unknown to us before now," noted Jiménez.
Today, Babylon's ruins lie about 85 kilometers south of Baghdad, Iraq, and are recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The discovery revives a voice from a civilization whose writings remain cornerstones of global literary heritage. The findings are detailed in the journal Iraq (2025; 86: 21).