Sumerian·Book

Position in chronology

Proverbs: collection 5

~1800 BCE·Old Babylonian

Translation · reference

High confidence
{The elephant spoke to himself: "There is nothing like me among all the creatures of Cakkan!" The wren (?) answered him: But I, in my own small way, was created just as you were!} {(1 ms. has instead:) The elephant spoke to himself: Among all the creatures of Cakkan, the one that can defecate like me has yet to be created! The wren (?) answered him: But I, in my own small way, can defecate just as much as you!} {You go like an elephant to raise a sunken boat.} {(1 ms. has instead:) An elephant is led to a sunken boat to raise it.} (cf. 6.1.03.14) The wild bull is taboo for the plough. "Like the wild bull, you only do what pleases you."

Source: ETCSL c.6.1.05: Proverbs: collection 5. 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.6.1.05

Why it matters

Transliteration

Scholarly note

Composition c.6.1.05 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.6.1.05: Proverbs: collection 5. 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.6.1.05.

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