Position in chronology
Proverbs: collection 24
Translation — scholar edition
ETCSL1 line fragmentary (cf. 6.1.09.a12-13, 6.1.19.b1-2, 6.1.21.b4-5, 6.2.5: YBC 4677 ll. 1-4) When a fattened pig is about to be slaughtered, one says "I must replace what I eat." As the piglet snuffles around, it says I can no longer take pleasure in eating. (cf. 6.1.02.135, 6.1.19.b4) He who annihilates a house destroys silver. He who destroys a house destroys gold. (cf. 6.1.09.a14, 6.1.19.b5) The lord's wife kneels, the slave girl dies. The lord kneels, the slave dies. (cf. 6.1.03.71, 6.1.11.19, 6.1.19.b6) ...... its hands ...... to the edge of the desert. There will be losses ....... It will be done .......
Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature — scholar edition (Oxford, Black/Cunningham/Robson/Zólyomi).
Spotted an error? Suggest a correction — confirmed corrections feed the engine's knowledge base.
Scholarly note
Composition c.6.1.24 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.6.1.24: Proverbs: collection 24. 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.6.1.24.
Related tablets
Related sources
A window into the world's first total state. The Ur III administration tracked every animal, every worker, every shekel — for a population in the millions. The level of paperwork was not exceeded until the modern era.
Part of the earliest known body of international diplomatic correspondence. Akkadian, written in cuneiform on clay, was the lingua franca of Late Bronze Age statecraft — used between Egypt, the Hittites, Mitanni, Babylon, Assyria, and the Levantine vassals.