A Love Letter from Uruk

Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundations?
Speak if you have understanding.
Do you know who fixed its dimensions?
Or who measured it with a line?
Onto what were its bases sunk?
Who set its cornerstone?
When the morning stars sang together
And all the divine beings shouted for joy? — Job 38.4–7

Address: Uruk
Sumer
Mesopotamia
Ancient Near East
Date: 2087BC (Oops!)

Before I built a wall I’d ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out, — Robert Frost: Mending Wall

… snake, scorpion and dog are ‘liminal’ animals. They belong to the realm of wild animals, but they penetrate into, or are even at home in, the inhabited regions. Therefore, they cannot be classified properly [into ‘wild’ or ‘domestic’] … [thus a] most important border is transgressed… — An Ur III Incantation against the Bite of a Snake, a Scorpion, or a Dog

Property is something to be expanded,
But nothing can equal my little ones — Instructions of Shuruppak

Fear death by water. — T. S. Eliot, The Waste Land

… cursed be the soil for your sake, with pangs shall you eat from it all the days of your life. Thorns and thistle shall it sprout for you and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow shall you eat bread, till you return to the ground. — Genesis 3.17–19

You shall not murder [Exodus 20.13]
You shall not murder [Deuteronomy 5.17]

Render therefore unto Caesar,
the things that are Caesar’s … — Matthew 22.21

To the house which none leave who have entered it,
On the road from which there is no way back,
To the house wherein the dwellers are bereft of light,
Where dust is their fare and clay their food. — Epic of Gilgamesh, tablet VII

… the temple of Enlil, was founded by the hoe. — Song of the Hoe

Nestor sat with his sons, and around them his people were busy preparing the feast, some roasting meat on spits, and others putting other pieces on the spits to cook. But when they saw the strangers they all came thronging about them and greeted them, and bade them sit down. — Homer, The Odyssey Bk3

And the Lord said to Cain:
“Why are you so incensed,
And why is your face fallen?
For whether you offer well,
Or whether you do not,
At the tent flap sin crouches
And for you is its longing …” — Genesis 3.6–7

And the Lord put a mark on Cain, lest anyone who met him should kill him. Cain left the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden. — Genesis 4.15–16

43: ‘If he does not cultivate the field and neglects it, he shall give to the owner of the field grain on the basis of the adjacent (fields); and the field which he has neglected, he shall break up with hoes, he shall harrow and he shall return it to the owner of the field.’ — Code of Hammurabi, 1754BC

The Lord said to Abram, “Go forth from your native land and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you.” — Genesis 12.1

The convened assembly of the city’s young men gave answer to Bilgames:
‘To stand on duty, to sit in attendance, to escort the king’s son – To hold a donkey by the hindquarters –
As they say, who is there has breath for that?
Let us not submit to the house of Kish, let us wage war!’ — Bilgames and Akka

My friend, I have tested the might of the Bull …,
So learning [its] strength, [and knowing its] purpose.
Let me [test] again the might of the Bull,
I [shall get myself] behind [the Bull of Heaven,]
I will seize [it by the tuft of the tail.] — Epic of Gilgamesh, tablet VI

When the sun set and it was very dark, there appeared a smoking oven, and a flaming torch which passed between those pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram saying, “To your offspring I assign this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates…” — Genesis 15.17–18

On that day when there is no snake, when there is no scorpion, when there is no hyena, when there is no lion, when there is neither dog nor wolf, when there is thus neither fear nor trembling, man has no rival! At such a time, may the lands of Cubur and Hamazi, the many-tongued, and Sumer, the great mountain of the me of magnificence, and Akkad, the land possessing all that is befitting, and the Martu land, resting in security – the whole universe, the well-guarded people – may they all address Enlil together in a single language! — Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta

Thou shalt be what thou art ordain’d, no doubt;
For Angels have proclaim’d it, but concealing
The time and means… — Milton: Paradise Regained I

Nisaba has placed in your hand the honor of being a teacher. For her, the fate determined for you will be changed and so you will be generously blessed… May she bless you with a joyous heart and free you from all despondency. …. at whatever is in the school, the place of learning. — The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk)

‘Your praise shall never disappear from the clay in the Edubba;
May every scribe therefore sing of this bliss
And glorify you greatly …’ — Lipit-Estar’s Praise in the Edubba

‘Schoolboy, where did you go from earliest days?’
‘I went to school.’
‘What did you do in school?’
‘I read my tablet, ate my lunch,
Prepared my tablet, wrote it, finished it — Schooldays. A Sumerian Composition

You set in place a confection of honey and butter …
You lay choice grasses down.
You spread out fruit of the orchard.
Sifted barley you scatter, a censor of juniper you sprinkle, cedar in your hand you raise, and the incantation “Born in heaven by his own power” you recite three times. — Dick (1999): Born in Heaven, Made on Earth

At a night encampment on the way, the Lord encountered him and sought to kill him. So Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son’s foreskin, and touched [Moses’] legs with it, saying, “You are truly a bridegroom of blood to me.” — Exodus 4.24–25

A man who has travelled far away, finally returns home – his heart is filled with joy. — Sumerian proverb

When Abram heard that his kinsman had been taken captive, he mustered his retainers, born into his household, numbering three hundred and eighteen, and went in pursuit as far as Dan. At night, he and his servants deployed against them and defeated them; and he pursued them as far as Hobath, which is north of Damascus. — Genesis 14.14–15

And it happened when Jacob saw Rachel daughter of Laban his mother’s brother and the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother that he stepped forward he rolled the stone from the mouth of the well and watered the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother. And Jacob kissed Rachel and lifted his voice and wept. — Genesis 29.10–11

‘In the language of the Sumerians, the word for “love” … in its literal sense, meant “to measure the earth”, that is, “to mark off land”.’ — Bertman (2005), Handbook to Life in Ancient Mesopotamia, p.275

188: If a member of the artisan class took a son as a foster child and has taught him his handicraft, he may never be reclaimed.
189: If he has not taught him his handicraft, that foster child may return to his father’s house.
190: If a seignior has not counted among his sons the boy that he adopted and reared, that foster child may return to his father’s house. — Code of Hammurabi, 1754BC

When you enter the land that I am giving you and you reap its harvest, you shall bring the first sheaf of your harvest to the priest. He shall elevate the sheaf before the Lord for acceptance on your behalf … — Leviticus 23.10–11

108: If a [female] tavern-keeper does not accept corn according to gross weight in payment of drink, but takes money, and the price of the drink is less than that of the corn, she shall be convicted and thrown into the water. — Code of Hammurabi, 1754BC

When Lamech had lived 182 years, he begot a son.
And he named him Noah, saying, ‘This one will provide us relief from our work and from the toil of our hands, out of the very soil which the Lord placed under a curse.’ All the days of Lamech came to 777 years; then he died.
When Noah had lived 500 years, Noah begot Shem, Ham, and Japhet. — Genesis 5.28–32

Nanni sends the following message: When you came, you said to me as follows: “I will give Gimil-Sin (when he comes) fine quality copper ingots.” You left then but you did not do what you promised me. You put ingots which were not good before my messenger (Sit-Sin) and said: “If you want to take them, take them; if you do not want to take them, go away!” What do you take me for, that you treat somebody like me with such contempt? — Letters from Mesopotamia, A. Leo Oppenheim

The teacher was brought from school; having entered the house, he was seated in the seat of honor.
The schoolboy took the [tablet], sat down before him; whatever he had learned of the scribal art, he unfolded to his father.
His father with joyful heart says joyfully to his ‘school-father’:
‘You “open the hand” of my young one, you make of him an expert. — Schooldays. A Sumerian Composition

On that day, the storm shrieked, the west wind whirled, the north wind and south wind howled at each other …
The clouds of heaven mingled with the waters of the earth, their … [hail-]stones were striking on my back.
I, the king, I feared not, nor was I terrified,
Like a fierce lion I gnashed my teeth,
Like a wild ass I galloped,
With my heart full of joy, I ran onward.
Racing like a solitary wild-donkey… — The Royal Hymns of Shulgi, King of Ur

… the Lord God formed man from the dust of the earth. He blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being. The Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and placed there man whom He had formed. And from the ground the Lord God caused to grow every tree that was pleasing to the sight and good for food, with the tree of life in the middle of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and bad. — Genesis 2.7–9

There were scorpion-men guarding its gate,
Whose terror was dread, whose glance was death, whose radiance was fearful, overwhelming the mountains –
At sunrise and sunset they guarded the sun.
Gilgamesh saw them, in fear and dread he covered his face,
Then he collected his wits, and drew nearer their presence. — Epic of Gilgamesh, tablet IX

Said the tavern-keeper to him, to Gilgamesh:
‘O Gilgamesh, there never has been a way across, nor since olden days can anyone cross the ocean.
Only [Utu] the hero crosses the ocean: apart from the Sun God, who crosses the ocean?
The crossing is perilous, its way full of hazard,
And midway lie the Waters of Death, blocking the passage forward…’ — Epic of Gilgamesh, tablet X

Said Ur-shanabi to him, to Gilgamesh:
‘Your own hands, O Gilgamesh, have prevented [your crossing]
you smashed the Stone Ones, threw [them in the river,]
the Stone Ones are smashed, and the Pine is not [stripped.]
Take up, O Gilgamesh, your axe in [your] hand,
go down to the forest and [cut three hundred] punting-poles, each five rods in length.
Trim them and furnish them each with a boss,
then bring [them here into my presence.] — Epic of Gilgamesh, tablet X

And all flesh that stirred on earth perished – birds, cattle, beasts, and all the things that swarmed upon the earth, and all mankind. All in whose nostrils was the merest breath of life, all that was on dry land, died. All existence on earth was blotted out – man, cattle, creeping things, and birds of the sky; they were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark. — Genesis 7.21–23

A square mile is city, a square mile date-grove, a square mile is clay-pit, half a square mile the temple of [Inanna]: three square miles and a half is Uruk’s expanse. — Epic of Gilgamesh, tablet XI

I am my beloved’s
And his desire is for me — Song of Songs 7.11

“Good-bye!” he said, turning his horse’s head towards the road again. “You’ve been very kind to stay and listen to my song.” Alice felt she could not let him go without saying something. “Good-bye!” she called after him. “I’m very glad to have met you!” — Lewis Carroll: Through the Looking-Glass, ch.8

Let him who has a household go to his household;
Let him who has a household and a mother go to his mother. — Proverbs from Susa