CDLI Literary 000820, ex. 001 (P346384)
Wisdom or proverb, Old Babylonian, Ur · c. 1900 BCE–1600 BCE
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| Designation | CDLI Literary 000820, ex. 001 |
|---|---|
| ID | P346384 |
| Museum no. | BM — |
| Collection | British Museum, London, UK |
| Language | Sumerian |
| Period | Old Babylonian · c. 1900 BCE–1600 BCE |
| Genre | Wisdom or proverb |
| Find spot | Ur (mod. Tell Muqayyar) |
| Coordinates | 30.9607, 46.1063 |
English translation
By Peterson, Jeremiah · Via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative · CDLI (reuse with citation)
| Line | English |
|---|---|
| obverse 2 | The weapon is not one that utters his name, it is one that finds his flesh |
| obverse 4 | If the city changes (its) name/year(?), I would (have to) affirm my name/year(?) |
| obverse 5 | The mongoose does not know the aura of divinity |
| obverse 7 | Follow your lot and make your mother rejoice, run(?) and make your god rejoice |
| obverse 8 | The buzzard entered the mouth of a corpse(?) |
| obverse 9 | The fly is the one that enters, your mouth is the one that strikes/jumps? |
| obverse 12 | If the scepter slaughters the bull, if the whip slaughters the sheep, in the place where there is no assembly/mourning place(?), the man who is not seated(?), he is a vizier single ruling? |
| obverse 13 | If ... pours oil inside a scepter, (no one will know) |
| obverse 16 | The person who has not valued his god, his corpse is not buried, his heir does not pour water, his ghost does not drink |
| obverse 17 | May/if ... stands for me(?) ... |
| obverse 18 | The weeping of the female laborer ... |
| obverse 19 | The child of the female laborer, the spouse of the female laborer? ... |
| obverse 20 | A boat does not ... her(?) marsh |
| obverse 21 | (On?) the bank(?) ... of her(?) marsh(?) reed(s) do not(?) ... |
| reverse 2' | A malicious spouse ... |
| reverse 3' | Illness? ... |
| reverse 4' | ... that does not have a house ... |
| reverse 6' | ... to not ...dust/earth(?), it is anthema of Utu |
| reverse 8' | A man going about is one who has found something, a woman going about has lost something |
| reverse 10' | If a hireling who parches grain returns/answers, (his) head is smoking(?) |
| reverse 13' | The prison is a thicket, the king is a lion, Nungal is a šuša net covering the young men |
| reverse 15' | Having left the house and entered into(?) the street, the female worker set up a banquet apart from her lady |
| reverse 17' | No barley being present is the (destructive) hand(?) of the city, no reeds being present is extreme poverty/execessive neighborliness(?) |
| reverse 19' | "I am bent at the thigh” is what the leatherworker (says)(?), “By the life of Enki, murky water flows (away?)” is what the fuller (says)(?) |
| reverse 22' | May(?) the hot fish cool for you, the bones gathered from the fish ... I ... |
Transliteration (ATF)
From Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative · CDLI: reuse of catalogue/transliteration data with citation of CDLI; images restricted (not fetched)
| Line | ATF | Machine English (draft) |
|---|---|---|
| obverse | ||
| 1 | {gesz#}tukul!(TUG2) mu-ni nu-pa3-da | |
| 2 | su-ni i3-pa3-da | |
| 3 | iri{ki} mu hu-mu-kur2-kur2 | |
| 4 | mu-gu10 hu-mu-gin6#-na | |
| 5 | {d}nin-ka6 ni2 dingir-ra# nu-zu | |
| 6 | gesz-szub us2-sa ama-zu hul2-la# | |
| 7 | kasz4 tuku-ma dingir-zu hul2-la# | |
| 8 | ti8#{muszen#} ka adda#?-kam ba-an-ku4# | |
| 9 | nim ku4-ra-am3 ka-zu ba-HUB2#?-am3 | |
| 10 | {gesz}gidri gu4 ha-pa#-gaz {kusz}a2-si | |
| 11 | udu ha-pa-szum2#? ki sag-ki nu-gal2-ta | |
| 12 | lu2 nu-tusz e-ne sukkal-a | |
| 13 | sza3 {gesz}gidri-kam i3 he2-en-de2 | |
| 14 | lu2 dingir-ra-a-ni nu-mu-un-kal-kal | |
| 15 | adda-bi ki nu-tum4 ibila-a-ni | |
| 16 | a nu-de2 {d}gidim#-[...]-nag# | |
| 17 | ha-ma?-da-gub-be2? [...] | |
| 18 | er2 geme2-kam u8-[...] | |
| 19 | dumu geme2-kam dam# [...] | |
| 20 | sug-a-ni ma2 nu#?-[...] | |
| 21 | gu2 sug-a-ni x [...] | |
| 22 | [...] x BU igi x [...] | |
| 23 | [...] x [...] | |
| reverse | ||
| 1' | x SZESZ-SZESZ [...] | |
| 2' | dam nu-gar-ra TU# [...] | |
| 3' | TU-ra x-ga lu2# x [...] | |
| 4' | UD-ma e2 nu-tuku e2 x-a-x [...] | |
| 5' | KAM? TU KA szu bar gal2 sahar nu-x-[...] | |
| 6' | nig2-gig {d}utu-kam | |
| 7' | nita DU-DU nig2 pa3-da | |
| 8' | munus DU-DU nig2 ugux(GUL) bi2-ib-de2# | |
| 9' | lu2-hun sze sa-ke4 ha-ab-ib-gi4 | |
| 10' | sag i-bi2 du11-ga | |
| 11' | e2-gal {gesz}tir-ra-am3 lugal | |
| 12' | ur-mah-e {d}nun-gal | |
| 13' | {gesz}sa-us2-sa gurusz-e szu4-szu4 | |
| 14' | e2-ta e3 sila-ta ku4-ra? | |
| 15' | geme2 nin-a-ni-ta {gesz}bun-ni bi2-in-gar | |
| 16' | sze nu-gal2 szu? iri{ki}-kam | |
| 17' | gi nu#-gal2# nam-|LAL2.SAR|-nam-|LAL2.SAR|-|LAL2.SAR|? diri-ga | |
| 18' | hu-su ga-me-en aszgab!(LU2)-e-ne | |
| 19' | zi {d}en-ki a# lu3 za3-le {lu2}azlag2-e-ne | |
| 20' | ku6 al-sze6-ga2 ha-ra-ba-sed6-sed6-de3 | |
| 21' | [... giri3]-pad-ra2 de5-de5-ga | |
| 22' | [...] x ba-DU ga2-e!? [...] x-le-e | |
Sources & licences
- Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative · CDLI: reuse of catalogue/transliteration data with citation of CDLI; images restricted (not fetched) · Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (CDLI), https://cdli.earth/ ; cite CDLI and the P-number
- Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus (ORACC) · CC BY-SA 3.0 (ORACC default); per-file JSON license fields say: This data is released under the CC0 license (133618) · ORACC project editions, https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ ; cite the individual project (see texts.extra_json.project)
Cite the original edition and translator. Page generated by Unread Atlas from the public corpus export of 2026-10-11.