Sumerian Proverbs
Via @drhingram via @JaredParker, Oxford University’s “Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature” has a trove of proverbs:
You should not cut the throat of that which has already had its throat cut.
“Though I still have bread left over, I will eat your bread!” Will this endear a man to the household of his friend?
You don’t speak of that which you have found. You talk only about what you have lost.
Whatever it is that hurts you, don’t talk to anyone about it.
Wealth is far away, poverty is close at hand.
He who possesses many things is constantly on guard.
Possessions make trust of crucial importance.
Barley flour, in the fields, is meat fat.
The lives of the poor do not survive their deaths.
In the city where there are no dogs, the fox is boss.
He who eats too much cannot sleep.
An unfaithful penis matches an unfaithful vagina.
To be sick is acceptable; to be pregnant is painful; but to be pregnant and sick is just too much.
Tell a lie and then tell the truth: it will be considered a lie.
May you find the response to an insult hurled at you in a dispute.
Putting unwashed hands to one’s mouth is disgusting.
A heart which does not know accounting – is that a wise heart?
In respect of both expenditures and capital goods, the anus is well supplied.
The dog understands “Take it!”, but it does not understand “Put it down!”
What will the dog do about what the fox is doing?
Strength cannot keep pace with intelligence.
He who insults is insulted. He who sneers is sneered at.
He is fearful, like a man unacquainted with beer.
A fettered dog is quarrelsome.
A fox urinated into the Tigris. “I am causing the spring flood to rise,” he said.
He who shaves his head gets more hair. And he who gathers the barley gains more and more grain.
The horse, after throwing off his rider, said: “Were my load to be like this forever, how weak I would become!”
A dog which is played with turns into a puppy.
Like a hyena, he will not eat it unless it stinks.
To be wealthy and demand more is an abomination to one’s god.
A child without sin was never born by his mother. The idea was never conceived that there was anyone who was not a sinner. Such a situation never existed.
Earth is greater than heaven. Who can destroy it?
By following craftiness, one learns how to be crafty. By following wisdom, one learns how to be wise.
Link: http://io9.com/musicians-recreation-of-ancient-sumerian-songs-will-hau-1676603467
Soundcloud: https://m.soundcloud.com/newsweek-tech-science
Apparently these people didn’t watch Evil Dead. You don’t read things written in dead languages, certainly you don’t sing them!
Ereshkigal ~ Sumerian and Akkadian goddess of the underworld, sister of the sky goddess Ishtar. Together with her consort Nergal she rules the underworld, also called ‘the big land’, from which no one returns. One day Nergal was sent to her from heaven with an offering of food. They fell in love with each other, and when he had to leave, she was in tears and threathened Anu that she would revive all the dead, over whom she ruled, and send them back to earth ‘so that they will outnumber the living’ unless Nergal was send back to her as a husband. Her minister Namtar had to go to heaven as her messenger, for Ereshkigal felt that she was already pregnant. At last Nergal came stroming down the stairs, broke down the seven gates and burst into the goddess’ palace straight into her passionate embrace, ‘to wipe her tears.’
Ereshkigal is dark and violent, befitting her role as goddess of the underworld. As ruler over the shades, Ereshkigal receives the mortuary offerings made to the dead. In the Sumerian cosmogony she was carried off to the underworld after the separation of heaven and earth. She is often praised in hymns. Ereshkigal was probably once a sky-goddess. [x] [x]
