How did we decipher ancient texts in extinct languages, like the complaint tabel to Ea-nasir?

Question

How did we decipher ancient texts in extinct languages, like the complaint tabel to Ea-nasir?

In: 44

Answer 1

For example, we have learned how to read Ancient Egyptian thanks to the discovery of the Rosetta Stone – an ancient monument inscribed with the same text in three scripts: Egyptian in two different scripts and Ancient Greek. Since we already knew Ancient Greek (we’ve never stopped knowing it since ancient times) we were able to decipher the Egyptian version and use that knowledge to decipher all the other Ancient Egyptian inscriptions. For other extinct languages we usually need something like that too – al least some kind of clue linking the text to something already known. If there aren’t any clues, then we can’t decipher the language, and there are numerous such indecipherable ancient languages in the world.

Answer 2

For example, we have learned how to read Ancient Egyptian thanks to the discovery of the Rosetta Stone – an ancient monument inscribed with the same text in three scripts: Egyptian in two different scripts and Ancient Greek. Since we already knew Ancient Greek (we’ve never stopped knowing it since ancient times) we were able to decipher the Egyptian version and use that knowledge to decipher all the other Ancient Egyptian inscriptions. For other extinct languages we usually need something like that too – al least some kind of clue linking the text to something already known. If there aren’t any clues, then we can’t decipher the language, and there are numerous such indecipherable ancient languages in the world.