CDLI

CDLI, the Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative, is an international digital library and data repository dedicated to cuneiform inscriptions from ancient Mesopotamia. It collects and provides access to high-resolution images of tablets and inscriptions, along with transliterations, translations, and rich metadata, to support research in Assyriology, archaeology, and digital humanities.

The project brings together content from major scholarly collections and museums, and it offers search tools and browse options that enable users to query by provenance, date, tablet type, or linguistic features. In addition to images and texts, CDLI links cuneiform signs to transliterations in Unicode and provides textual data arranged for scholarly study, including metadata about provenance, dating, and repository source. The platform also supports programmatic access for researchers who want to incorporate cuneiform data into computational workflows.

Technically, CDLI emphasizes interoperability and long-term preservation. Data are encoded with contemporary standards, including TEI-XML-based representations of texts and transliterations, and use of Unicode for sign representation. The repository aims to harmonize records from diverse collections and to facilitate linking between artifacts, texts, and scholarly editions.

History and scope, CDLI began as a collaborative effort involving institutions such as the University of California, Los Angeles, and the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, with ongoing partnerships across universities, libraries, and museums. Since its inception, it has grown into a central resource for cuneiform studies, supporting research, teaching, and public access to ancient Mesopotamian texts.