The Instructions of Shuruppak

by Anonymous

The Instructions of Shuruppak is possibly the oldest surviving written text. Shuruppak, a Sumerian king, is certainly the most ancient author known by name. He lived sometime in the 27th century BC.

An English translation of the original Sumerian text can be found here: http://www.gatewaystobabylon.com/myth...

Genres: Classics, Philosophy, Ancient, History, Ancient History, Middle East, Nonfiction

Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 2601

About the author

Books can be attributed to "Anonymous" for several reasons:

* They are officially published under that name
* They are traditional stories not attributed to a specific author
* They are religious texts not generally attributed to a specific author

Books whose authorship is merely uncertain should be attributed to Unknown.

See also: Anonymous

Reviews

[Ali Ahmadi]

[«موفقیت نامحدود» — که بعدتر فهمیدم مترجم فارسی یک «در بیست روز» هم تنگش زده که لابد موثرتر باشد — از اولین کتاب‌های بود که در بچگی میشد اسمش را همه‌جا دید. بلاخره کسی روی دست آنتونی رابینز بلند نمیشد. اما بعدتر دیدم خیلی بیشترند و همه هم به‌طور همزمان پرفروش‌ترین‌های دوران! «نیروی حال» اکهارت تله، «چهار میثاق» دون میگل روئیز، «هفت عادت مردمان موثر» استیون کاوی و البته «کیمیاگر» و ده‌ها عنوان دیگر. با این که نسل جدیدی مثل «هنر شفاف اندیشیدن» و «عادت‌های اتمی» هم داریم که رویکردی کمابیش عملی و علمی‌تر دارند، اما به راحتی می‌‌شود همه‌ی اینها را زیر برچسب زردهای شانه‌ تخم‌مرغی جمع کرد و برای خوانندگانشان افسوس خورد. افسوسی که البته با نگاهی کلی‌تر به نمونه‌های تاریخی احتمالن بیش از حد ساده‌انگارانه است. بعدن کمی بیشتر در موردشان روده‌درازی می‌کنم.]


«تعالیم شوروپاک» احتمالن در قرن ۲۶ قبل از میلاد نوشته شده و از قدیمی‌ترین متون ادبی دنیاست. داستان نصیحت‌های پادشاهی به اسم شوروپاک — که همزمان اسم شهری هم بوده در جنوب عراق امروزی — به پسرش زیوسودرا که معادل نوح است در فرهنگ سومری. پندها شامل امر و نهی‌های ساده و ازلی هستند مثل احترام به خانواده و پرهیز از خشونت، دزدی و تجاوز، یا قضاوت نکردن بعد از نوشیدن آبجو. ولی مواردی انتزاعی و شاعرانه‌تر هم داریم مانند «سرنوشتْ ساحلی مرطوب است، ممکن است تو را بلغزاند» و دستورهای عجیب‌تری مثل «خری که زیاد عرعر می‌کند را نخر». 

[Oblomov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, I have now read the oldest known text in the world, which is simultaneously maxims of ancient thought and a Dad bending his son's ear off.
The text is the fragmentary sayings of King Shuruppak (or Curuppag) to his son Ziusudra, a hero of the great flood mentioned in Gilgamesh, and his fatherly advice is a bit mixed:

Some of it is timeless:

-You should not pass judgment when you drink beer.
-You should not serve things; things should serve you.

Other's (mercifully) aren't very relevant for the modern day:

-You should not have sex with your slave girl (watch out, boy) she will chew you up.
-You should not abduct a wife.

A few are outdated in their morals:

-A woman with her own property ruins the house.
-You tell your son to come to your home; you tell your daughter to go to her women's quarters.

One or two are delightfully worded:

-The palace is like a mighty river: its middle is goring bulls; what flows in is never enough to fill it, and what flows out can never be stopped.

Some of the sayings are partially lost and leave us in bewildered suspense:

-A vicious donkey hangs its neck; however, a vicious man, my son-(?)

And some are just down right weird:

-You should not buy a donkey which brays; it will split your midriff.
-You should not abuse a ewe; otherwise you will give birth to a daughter. (What? How does that work- Wait, what do you mean by 'abuse'? Are you bloody Zeus?)

Shuruppak's concludes his sayings with this acknowledgement at the end:

Praise be to the lady who completed the great tablets, the maiden Nisaba, that Curuppag, the son of Ubara-Tutu gave his instructions!

I like this, as not only are we given the name of a scribe, but they're a she, so we have evidence that women had access to literacy at the time (some 300 years before Enheduanna's hymns). And, since Shuuppak openly thanks her, it was probably not considered something unseemly or unusual for a woman to be a skilled writer (or 'chiseller' since this on tablet, I guess). Someone who's studied ancient Mesopotamia may well be rolling their eyes at me as they already knew this, but I didn't and it was nice to see.

While this isn't the most profound work, what I found interesting is that this much older text says 'don't rape', while the much younger Bible seems to think that's just fine and sodding dandy. Admittedly the 'don't rape' advice has the unecessary and suspicious edition of 'because the courtyard will hear of it' stapled on, but it's still better than the Good Brick saying all virgins are fair game in war. Or Lot throwing his daughters at a mob to literally and metaphorically save some strangers' arses (and he gets praised for it), and then he gets raped as well (and God doesn't punish the rapists for it). I mean, Jesus, the Bible rivals the Marquis de Sade at times. I'm rambling now, but Shuruppak is more family friendly is my point.

The Instructions does make for some interesting reading and, at only five pages and free online, you've no excuse not to read the world's oldest known text, if only to feel undeservedly smug about it. And yes, I know The Kesh Temple Hymn was written about the same time but it's utterly boring, and The Dispilio Tablet is some two millenia older, but I don't think anyone's figured out how to read the bloody thing yet.

[David Lamb]

Perhaps the greatest advice from ancient texts: "You should not pass judgment when you drink beer."

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Let me tell y'all why you should read an ancient self-help manual which begins with advice on buying donkeys.

This is the oldest written thing humanity has of itself. A letter of advice and wisdom from an old king to his son, written without any awareness of its future importance, the Instructions have been around for at least 4000 years but were only translated into English from the dead Sumerian a few centuries ago. They did not survive the years undamaged, as numerous gaps riddle the text. A complete rendition of the Instructions would be a triumph for scholars, but for the reader it is its incompleteness that gives it its emotional power. The text is interesting as a slice-of-ancient-Sumerian-life, but the random decay of certain phrases and the resulting creation of new phrases resembles the sampling of modern rap music in an exciting way. William S. Burroughs didn't invent the "cut-up" technique; the sands of time did.

On top of this is a tragic irony which you, the modern reader, bring to the table, of a dead and nearly forgotten king reeling off unheeded advice to a son who is also dead, and even more forgotten. The Instructions have three authors: Shuruppak, the reader, and the desert. It is a fusion of ancient wisdom and modern irony and complete accident that you cannot find anywhere else. I cannot recommend it highly enough. (It only takes 15 minutes to read.)

You can read it here: http://www.gatewaystobabylon.com/myth...

[_ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, it's not exactly gripping drama, but for a collection of advice written 4600 years ago, this was an interesting read. It's very much in the style of the book of Proverbs: admonitions to listen to the author, some moral advice, some practical advice, and some observations. Overall, I mostly just found it interesting as an insight into what was going on so many millennia ago.

[Vaishali · Rating 3 out of 5]

The tablet itself is cracked, and many words have been lost.

Interesting Quotes :
---------------

"You should not loiter about where there is a quarrel; you should not let the quarrel make you a witness."

"A thief is a lion, but after he has been caught, he will be a slave. My son, you should not commit robbery; you should not cut yourself with an axe."

"You should not boast; then your words will be trusted."

"My son, you should not use violence ..."

"The artistic mouth recites words; the harsh mouth brings litigation documents; the sweet mouth gathers sweet herbs."

"Prayer is cool water that cools the heart."

"The poor man inflicts all kinds of illnesses on the rich man."

"Nothing at all is to be valued, but life should be sweet. You should not serve things; things should serve you."



.

[harriet buchan · Rating 3 out of 5]

If Andrew Tate founded Hustlers University in 2600 BC :

“[. . .] You should not serve things; things should serve you. My son…”

[Mathias · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is, together with "The Kesh Temple Hymn", considered to be the oldest remaining text in the whole world. It's rather short. Some parts are unreadable or untranslatable. Other parts were hard to understand, at least for me.

A sad and somewhat surprising discovery for me was that 4500 years ago, they were, in their understanding of ethics and morality not far behind ours. Sad, because we still haven't learned the lessons after so long a time.

Here are some excerpts from its ethical teachings:

"You should not steal anything;" followed by an utilitarian reason: "A thief is a lion, but after he has been caught, he will be a slave."

"My son, you should not use violence (?); ....... You should not commit rape on someone's daughter;" again followed by an utilitarian explanation: "the courtyard will learn of it."

"My son, you should not commit robbery;"

Also its moral insights are as true today as they were back then:

"Stand aside from a quarrel". Now this is certainly something that was not followed by politics in the 20th century with its 2 world wars and increasing non-isolationism.

"You should not play around with a married young woman: the slander could be serious. My son, you should not sit alone in a chamber with a married woman."

„A loving heart maintains a family; a hateful heart destroys a family.“

“One appoints (?) a reliable woman for a good household.“

„You should not serve things; things should serve you.“

The following passage however is very unchristian and not very nice:

"You should not provide a stranger"

There was also insight concerning body language:

"The eyes of the slanderer always move around as shiftily as a spindle."

The following passage unmasks the hypocrisy of wanna-be do-gooders (In German we call them Gutmenschen):

"When it is about someone's else bread, it is easy to say I will give it to you, but the time of actual giving can be as far away as the sky. If you go after the man who said I will give it to you, he will say I cannot give it to you -- the bread has just been finished up."

It even offers advice to employers:

"If you hire a worker, he will share the bread bag with you; he eats with you from the same bag, and finishes up the bag with you. Then he will quit working with you and, saying "I have to live on something", he will serve at the palace."

And financial advice:

“My son, a field situated at the bottom of the embankments, be it wet or dry, is nevertheless a source of income.“

As well as advice on buying slaves:

„You should rather bring down a foreign slave from the mountains, or you should bring somebody from a place where he is an alien; my son, then he will pour water for you where the sun rises and he will walk before you. He does not belong to any family, so he does not want to go to his family; he does not belong to any city, so he does not want to go to his city.“

Harvest time was, of course, a special time:

“At harvest time, at the most priceless time, collect like a slave girl, eat like a queen; my son, to collect like a slave girl, to eat like a queen, this is how it should be.“

And I wonder what the following means:

„The palace is like a mighty river: its middle is goring bulls; what flows in is never enough to fill it, and what flows out can never be stopped.“

It sounds like a critic of the palace, but I’m not sure. After all, the text was written by a king.

[Halina Hetman · Rating 3 out of 5]

З відео Месопотамія. Від перших громад до першої імперії каналу Цей день в історії я дізналася про найстарший із відомих сюжетних і цілісних творів літератури, "Повчання Шуруппака". Він не зберігся як єдине "видання", натомість шумерологи його вивели з клинописних табличок різних років, тож текст частково ушкоджений.

Це, на відміну від The Epic of Gilgamesh, нон-фікшн, але створений він задля повчання того самого Утнапіштіма, одного з персонажів "Епосу про Гільгамеша" - людини, що пережила Потоп і була обдарована безсмертям.

Поради тут різняться: від застарілих, про те кого краще вибирати в раби та за жінку, до таких, що можна примінити і в сучасному світі. Останні здебільшого лаконічніші:

Не селися біля площі: там завжди юрба.
Не тиняйся, де сваряться.
Не винось вироку, як пиво п’єш.
Сину мій, не мандруй сам на схід.
Не служи речам; хай вони тобі служать.

В цілому, "Повчання... " це розумні поради для тогочасних реалій, які були доволі популярні і, скоріш за все, вивчалися в школах. Цей твір не входив в мій TBR в рамках хронологічного челенджу, але не жалкую, що взяла його - згадуються години, що провела в замилуванні перед клинописними табличками в музеях.

P.S.: В статті У ті дні, в ті далекі дні... Перший у світі сюжетний текст професора Костянтина Тищенка прочитала теорію про можливі торгівельні зв'язки Міжріччя та України. Етимологічне обґрунтування, як на мене, заслабке, але, можливо, є ще якісь відомості?

[Grady · Rating 4 out of 5]

So according to several sources, this manual of advice is (for now) the oldest known written work, from just 4600 years ago - what a short time in the scheme of things to encompass all human literary works!

Some of these instructions are pretty interesting, or even poetic:

Fate is a wet bank; it can make one slip (170- 171)

The wet-nurses in the women’s quarters determine the fate of their lord (254)

At harvest time, at the most priceless time, collect like a slave girl, eat like a queen;
my son, to collect like a slave girl, to eat like a queen, this is how it should be.(131-133)
[In other words - work hard, then enjoy yourself?]

Others sound like advice that's been passed through a game of telephone, and you wonder what it must have meant in context, or if something major has been lost in translation:

You should not abuse a ewe; otherwise you will give birth to a daughter. You should not throw a lump of earth into the money chest (?); otherwise you will give birth to a son. (246-247).

You should not draw up water which you cannot reach: it will make you weak (51-52).

If you want to read them yourself, they're available online here.

[Unpil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finally, I have read the oldest existing literature, even older than Gilgamesh! Enter the genre of Sumerian self-help literature.

Three nuggets of wisdom that I found relevant:
- The artistic mouth recites words; the harsh mouth brings litigation documents; the sweet mouth gathers sweet herbs. (103-105)
- You should not pass judgment when you drink beer. (126)
- You should not work using only your eyes; you will not multiply your possessions using only your mouth. (175-176)

One piece of advice that I found the most ridiculous and risible:
- You should not abuse a ewe; otherwise you will give birth to a daughter. You should not throw a lump of earth into the money chest (?); otherwise you will give birth to a son. (246-247)

Source of text: http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/section5...

[Chai Cirgnani · Rating 3 out of 5]

“to get lost is bad for a dog; but terrible for a man. on the unfamiliar way at the edge of the mountains, the gods of the mountains are man-eaters. they do not build houses as men do. they do not build cities as men do.”

[Yasna · Rating 3 out of 5]

242-244. "Nothing at all is to be valued, but life should be sweet. You should not serve things, things should serve you. My son..."

[Brennan Winer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pretty profound for one of the earliest extant pieces of literature.
I think this quote sums up the Sumerian Empire in a single sentence: "You should not make devices on a man: the flood will give it back to you."

... As in, plotting against people is not inherently morally wrong, but should be discouraged, only because natural disasters do the same job more efficiently. Other highlights include not intervening in conflicts between two people, never vouching for someone else's character, and an early warning against the tragedy of the commons. What does it say about us humans that this is one of the first things we ever put on paper (or... cuneiform tablets)?

[Kārlis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely cool to be reading a text that's more than 4000 years old... Also, I like how the advice given is sometimes even relevant today, like "Don't make decisions when you're drunk" and, to a much more obvious extent, "Don't rape".

[Mohamed Hasn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely a goodread. Probably, the oldest written text that we know of.
Consequentialist.
The instructions are mostly Prohibitions, it rarely used the imperative form.
Down to earth instructions like: what you should not buy, whom you should not marry, what you should not do when you are drunk, whom you should not take as a slave!
Still there are generic exceptions like:
"Nothing at all is to be valued, but life should be sweet. You should not serve things;
things should serve you"
Also, I guess we have ignored the following instruction especially in the middle east :D
"You should not choose a wife during a festival. Her inside is illusory; her outside is illusory. The silver on her is borrowed; the lapis lazuli on her is borrowed. the jewellery on her is borrowed. The dress on her is borrowed; the linen garment on her is borrowed. With ...... nothing is
comparable"

[Leah Markum · Rating 3 out of 5]

4600 years ago...the Sumerians wrote the oldest surviving slab of literature.

When I decided to start a "centuries and decades" challenge and see how far back I could go, I didn't expect to get as far as 2600 BCE. In fact, most BCE literature (can't exactly call them all books, now can I?) only went as far as 500 BCE with most of the Greeks and Chinese. Homer goes back to around 750 BCE. But I'm not afraid of reading what I never heard of. I found a BCE list on Listopia. I pulled up a Wikipedia page on ancient literature that listed surviving Bronze Age texts. I followed a link to The Instructions of Shuruppak and spent maybe 15 minutes reading the oldest form of living literature. I read some background information on the Sumerians because after 10 years out of school and even longer since I read history taking place so far back. I looked up images of the tablets that form the Instructions. It's incredible that we live in a time when it's so easy to become an amateur historian.

The Instructions of Shuruppak is essentially a list of ethical behaviors written in the form of "don't do this or else". They are community oriented and practical when it comes to home life. It took a moment to address that you shouldn't place a farm in the middle of the road, which I appreciated with a smirk. Some remarks are unfortunately relevant to the place and time period, such as how get and treat slave girls. Authentically, you can't read the entire piece without encountering gaps where the writing got worn or perhaps chipped. In modern writing such as Internet posts, these physical gaps translate into "........" Other parts have questionable translation, at which point one may read "?" and [insert word and phrase alternatives with different connotations].

Reading this share of history turned out to be an adventure, stimulating my imagination to visualize myself as an antiquities expert and my intellect to appreciate how much of the world I have access to with a computer and an Internet connection.

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Old tablets from the 3rd millennium BC turn out to be tablets a father wrote (had a woman write) to his son, a set of laws to life by. Not deep philosophy, mostly, just things his dad found out that worked and did not work. Sometimes you wonder how stupid the son is.

"You should not locate a field on a road. You should not plough a field at a path. You should not make a well in your field: people will cause damage on it for you. You should not place your house next to a public square: there is always a crowd there."

"You should not buy a prostitute: she is a mouth that bites. You should not buy a house-born slave: he is a herb that makes the stomach sick. You should not buy a free man: he will always lean against the wall. You should not buy a palace slave girl: she will always be the bottom of the barrel (?). You should rather bring down a foreign slave from the mountains, or you should bring somebody from a place where he is an alien; my son, then he will pour water for you where the sun rises and he will walk before you. He does not belong to any family, so he does not want to go to his family; he does not belong to any city, so he does not want to go to his city."

"You should not choose a wife during a festival. Her inside is illusory; her outside is illusory. The silver on her is borrowed; the lapis lazuli on her is borrowed. The dress on her is borrowed; the linen garment on her is borrowed. "

"You should not speak arrogantly to your mother; that causes hatred for you. You should not question the words of your mother and your personal god. The mother, like Utu, gives birth to the man; the father, like a god, makes him bright. The father is like a god: his words are reliable. The instructions of the father should be complied with"

"Nothing at all is to be valued, but life should be sweet. You should not serve things; things should serve you."

"Praise be to the lady who completed the great tablets, the maiden Nisaba"

[Monty Circus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much better than its sister publication "The Kesh Temple Hymn". These are the most ancient words of wisdom ever found.

First of all, the opening line:

"In those days, in those far remote days, in those nights, in those faraway nights, in those years, in those far remote years..." Reminds me of "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...."

As for:

"The instructions of an old man are precious; you should comply with them!"

Well, some 27 centuries later, in Rome, comes the exact opposite being words of wisdom:

"Barba non facit philosophum", i.e. "A beard does not a wise man make".

BOOM! Sumeria vs. Rome, Ancient wisdom SMACKDOWN!!!

My favourite lines from good ol' Shuruppak:

- "A thief is a lion, but after he has been caught, he will be a slave."
- "You should not have sex with your slave girl: she will chew you up." And presumably spit you out?
- "You should not commit rape on someone's daughter; the courtyard will learn of it." So, not because it's wrong, or because it will traumatize the poor girl, no, just because you'll get caught!
- "You should not buy a palace slave girl: she will always be the bottom of the barrel." I had no idea this expression was that old!
- "You should not choose a wife during a festival. Her inside is illusory (?); her outside is illusory (?). The silver on her is borrowed; the lapis lazuli on her is borrowed (1 ms. has instead the line: ......; the jewellery on her is borrowed, the jewellery on her is borrowed). The dress on her is borrowed; the linen garment on her is borrowed. With ...... nothing (?) is comparable." Reminds me of Phife Dawg's verse on "Butter".
- "Nothing at all is to be valued, but life should be sweet. You should not serve things; things should serve you." Kind of like "We're not here for a long time we're here for a good time."

[K. R. B. Moum · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's interesting to find out that the earliest example of scripture was formulated explicitly with the purpose of passing the knowledge gathered through a life-long experience of a predecessor. Some points seemed machiavellian to an extent but that's natural for a ruler while advising the successor. However, the philosophical aspects he's providing here are more intriguing, for example; "242-244: Nothing at all is to be valued, but life should be sweet. You should not serve things; things should serve you. My son, ..."

[Georgia]

http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/section5...
Mesopotamian wisdom literature.
Obviously old. Sexist. Apparently wife abduction was a common enough thing to need warning against. It's a bit Machiavellian - don't lend money, don't allow money to be lent; indebt your workers to you by ensuring they have no familiar to return to; don't have sex with your slave girls - they bite. Otherwise it's common enough stuff - don't gossip, don't boast, don't use stolen things, don't steal.

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Compiled from fragments of different editions, from about 2600 BCE, the attributed author "Shuruppak" (the son of last pre-flood Sumerian leader Ubara-Tutu) compiles a list of wisdom for his son Ziusudra. This is one of the oldest extant fragments of literature too. While some readers might be disappointed with limits of the work as a list of advice, other readers might appreciate (if not be impressed by) the generous use of similes and metaphors which are still in use today.

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting that the most ancient literature we have as humans is a recording of fatherly advice that was ancient even to the writer(s). It begins by stating that this advice was given long ago, and contemporary lists show that the people referenced in the piece were ancient even to the writers. It goes to show how crazy recent writing really is!

[André Mattana · Rating 3 out of 5]

O texto mais antigo que conhecemos. Conselho de um rei sumério (Shuruppak) para o seu filho. (Na verdade escrito por uma mulher, Nisaba)

"You should not pass judgment when you drink beer."

"You should not serve things; things should serve you."

"Without suburbs a city has no centre either."

"Fate is a wet bank; it can make one slip. "

[Genesis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a complete waste of time if you have interest in the ancient advice for the ancient times of Mesopotamia.

I hope his son followed the instructions obediently.

[Stephen Bruce · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the oldest pieces of literature, from the 3rd millennium BCE. Alongside the expected instructions about honoring parents, not stealing, and so on, there are some very strange items:

222. A female burglar ...... ladder; she flies into the houses like a fly. A she-donkey ...... on the street. A sow suckles its child on the street. A woman who pricked herself begins to cry and holds the spindle which pricked her in her hand. She enters every house; she peers into all streets. ...... she keeps saying "Get out!" She looks around from all parapets. She pants where there is a quarrel.

271. On the unfamiliar way at the edge of the mountains, the gods of the mountains are man-eaters. They do not build houses there as men do; they do not build cities there as men do.

A couple more sayings to ponder:

242. Nothing at all is to be valued, but life should be sweet. You should not serve things; things should serve you.

264. It is inconceivable that something is lost forever.

Black, J.A., Cunningham, G., Fluckiger-Hawker, E, Robson, E., and Zólyomi, G., The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (http://www-etcsl.orient.ox.ac.uk/), Oxford 1998- .

[Bohdana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting but there's a lot that's missing.

Interesting Quotes:

"The elder brother is indeed like a father; the elder sister is indeed like a mother. Listen therefore to your elder brother, and you should be obedient to your elder sister as if she were your mother" (172-174).
- Oh, I can feel all the older siblings feeling vindicated by this. Lol, when was this when I was a kid?

"Fate is a wet bank; it can make one slip (170-171).
- Sounds oddly poetic.

"You should not choose a wife during a festival. Her inside is illusory (?); her outside is illusory (?). The silver on her is borrowed; the lapis lazuli on her is borrowed" (208 or so).
- That is, don't get catfished folks, fancy clothes are only good for a Cinderella moment but the rest is life. Except this guy knows better than to date Cinderella just because of a fancy gown.

"You should not pass judgment when you drink beer"(126). No explanation needed. You're not you when you're drunk.

"loving heart maintains a family; a hateful heart destroys a family" (202-203A).

[Álvaro Benício de Paiva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Não acho que existam razões para não ler o texto mais antigo já feito: uma leitura rápida de 15 a 20 minutos disponível gratuitamente online traduzido para o inglês. Se tem algo que este pedaço de literatura sapiencial suméria nos mostra é: independente da sociedade e do tempo, o homem permanece o mesmo.
É claro que há trechos datados, mas um pai passar sua sabedoria para seu filho é algo imemorial, e é prazeroso ver como algumas instruções são transmitidas até os dias de hoje, cerca de cinco mil anos depois.

Nothing at all is to be valued, but life should be sweet. You should not serve things; things should serve you.

You should not pass judgment when you drink beer.

A loving heart maintains a family; a hateful heart destroys a family.

[regina ferarri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Advice written as if from father to son, with the son being none other than the Sumerian counterpart of the Biblical Noah (Ziudsura, also known as Atrahasis.) The fact that this exists, and we can read it freely online is mind bending.

My favorite line has to be this: "To get lost is bad for a dog, but terrible for a man. On the unfamiliar way at the edge of the mountains, the gods of the mountains are man-eaters. They do not build houses there as men do; they do not build cities there as men do."

The gap between human civilization and the holy wilds ever increases, preluding similar sentiments in the Epic of Gilgamesh, and thousands of years later- the cults of Pan and Dionysus. Wall-off divinity before it eats you whole!

[Tiffany · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting book of proverbs from a father to his son written sometime between c. 2600 BCE — c. 2500 BC...

Some excerpts are:
- A woman with her own property ruins the house.
- Nothing at all is to be valued, but life should be sweet. You should not serve things; things should serve you.
- The palace is like a mighty river: its middle is goring bulls; what flows in is never enough to fill it, and what flows out can never be stopped.
- You should not pass judgment when you drink beer.