full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Soraya Field Fiorio: A day in the life of an ancient Babylonian business mogul

Unscramble the Blue Letters


As dawn breaks in the bylibnaoan city of Sippar, Beltani receives an ugrent visit from her brother. It’s 1762 B.C.E., during the reign of King Hammurabi.

Beltani is a naditu— a priestess and businesswoman, promised to the temple at birth. At puberty, she changed her name and gained her elevated naditu suttas in a ceremony where a priest examined the entrails of a sceiacifrd animal for onems. The naditu are an esteemed group drawn from Babylonia’s most affluent families. Though the rules are different for naditu in each city, in spapir they are celibate and never mrray. They live inside the gguam, a walled area inside the temple complex, but are free to come and go, and receive visitors.

Open Cloze


As dawn breaks in the __________ city of Sippar, Beltani receives an ______ visit from her brother. It’s 1762 B.C.E., during the reign of King Hammurabi.

Beltani is a naditu— a priestess and businesswoman, promised to the temple at birth. At puberty, she changed her name and gained her elevated naditu ______ in a ceremony where a priest examined the entrails of a __________ animal for _____. The naditu are an esteemed group drawn from Babylonia’s most affluent families. Though the rules are different for naditu in each city, in ______ they are celibate and never _____. They live inside the _____, a walled area inside the temple complex, but are free to come and go, and receive visitors.

Solution


  1. marry
  2. omens
  3. status
  4. sippar
  5. sacrificed
  6. gagum
  7. babylonian
  8. urgent

Original Text


As dawn breaks in the Babylonian city of Sippar, Beltani receives an urgent visit from her brother. It’s 1762 B.C.E., during the reign of King Hammurabi.

Beltani is a naditu— a priestess and businesswoman, promised to the temple at birth. At puberty, she changed her name and gained her elevated naditu status in a ceremony where a priest examined the entrails of a sacrificed animal for omens. The naditu are an esteemed group drawn from Babylonia’s most affluent families. Though the rules are different for naditu in each city, in Sippar they are celibate and never marry. They live inside the gagum, a walled area inside the temple complex, but are free to come and go, and receive visitors.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
tavern keeper 4
barley fields 2
brother manages 2
diluting wine 2
temple court 2


Important Words


  1. affluent
  2. animal
  3. area
  4. babylonian
  5. beltani
  6. birth
  7. breaks
  8. brother
  9. businesswoman
  10. celibate
  11. ceremony
  12. changed
  13. city
  14. complex
  15. dawn
  16. drawn
  17. elevated
  18. entrails
  19. esteemed
  20. examined
  21. families
  22. free
  23. gagum
  24. gained
  25. group
  26. hammurabi
  27. king
  28. live
  29. marry
  30. naditu
  31. omens
  32. priest
  33. priestess
  34. promised
  35. puberty
  36. receive
  37. receives
  38. reign
  39. rules
  40. sacrificed
  41. sippar
  42. status
  43. temple
  44. urgent
  45. visit
  46. visitors
  47. walled