Position in chronology
Proverbs: collection 25
Translation · reference
High confidence(cf. 6.1.03.149, 6.1.14.6, 6.1.15.b5, 6.1.16.c5, 6.1.22: ll. 172-175) It became cloudy, but it did not rain. It rained, but no one undid their belt. Although the Tigris was on its high tide, no water reached the arable lands. It rained on the riverbank, but the dry land did not get any of it. (cf. 6.1.15.b7) The en priest eats fish and eats leeks; but cress makes him ill. (cf. 6.1.03.59) The lord (i.e. An (?)) cursed Unug, but he himself was cursed by the lady of E-ana (i.e. Inana) . (cf. 6.1.03.31, 6.1.09.b1, 6.1.11.18, 6.1.15.b8, 6.2.1: Ni 4469 Seg. A ll. 9-12) Nanni cherished his old age.…
Source: ETCSL c.6.1.25: Proverbs: collection 25. Black, J.A., Cunningham, G., Robson, E. & Zólyomi, G. (eds.), The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature, Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford. https://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=c.6.1.25
Why it matters
Transliteration
Scholarly note
Composition c.6.1.25 in the ETCSL catalogue. Sumerian literary text reconstructed from multiple cuneiform manuscripts, the great majority Old Babylonian (c. 1900–1600 BCE). Translation reproduced from the ETCSL edition.
Attribution
Image: .
Translation excerpted from ETCSL c.6.1.25: Proverbs: collection 25. Black, J.A., Cunningham, G., Robson, E. & Zólyomi, G. (eds.), The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature, Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford. https://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=c.6.1.25.
Related tablets
Related sources
One of the earliest specimens of human writing. Not literature, not law — accounting. The need to keep track of grain in a temple bureaucracy is what pushed marks-on-clay into a system that could one day carry epics.
Marks the boundary between proto-writing and writing. We can see signs being used systematically — but not yet phonetically. The leap to recording speech itself comes a few centuries later.
The earliest historical document in human history. Before this, we have lists, accounts, and dedications. Here, for the first time, a ruler tells us what happened — with names, places, and consequences.