Literary and Religious Speech

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LIKE A CITY WITH SUPREME POWER MY CITY IS URUK,

THE CITY OF THE KING. BUT YOU,

WHO GREW UP IN MY CITY AND MY LAND,

HAVE PLUNDERED THE TEMPLE OF MY LORD,

HAVE DESPOILED THE PROPERTY OF MY LADY. –

MAY THE FORMER DAYS OF CONFLICT PASS ON,

AND MAY THE NOW DISTANT DAYS OF PEACE BE ESTABLISHED. –

CONFER AND ANSWER THAT HE MAY BE SET FREE,

BECAUSE TO ME YOU ARE A FOOL. –

MS in Neo Sumerian and Old Babylonian on clay, Uruk, Babylonia, 1700-1500 BC, 1 tablet, 20,0×6,4×2,2 cm, 63 double lines in a minute expert cuneiform script.

Binding: Barking, Essex, 1998, blue quarter morocco gilt folding case by Aquarius.

Commentary: The text is bilingual, first line in artificial Sumerian, quite unlike the real Sumerian of the 3rd millennium, immediately followed by a line with the Old Babylonian translation. The text is hitherto unknown.