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This fragmentary tablet, written in Sumerian, preserves part of a very early version of the collection of proverbs known as The Instructions of Shuruppak. The earliest copies of this text represent some of the oldest literature known to us (from about 2600 BCE). In this text, Shuruppak is represented as the son of Ubar-Tutu and the father of the Sumerian flood hero, Ziusudra.

The inscription reads in part as follows:

Do not buy an ass which brays too much.
Do not commit rape upon a man's daughter;
the courtyard will learn of it.

Do not answer back against your father.

 Nungal Hymn

Name: Instructions of Shuruppak

Material: Clay

Size:
Length: 12.3 cm (4.84 in)
Width: 9.8 cm (3.85 in)
Depth: 3.2 cm (1.25 in)

Date: 2600–2350 BCE

Place of Origin: Bismaya, Adab (Iraq)

Location: Oriental Institute Museum, Chicago, Illinois

Source and Registration#: Oriental Institute Museum A645
Link to resource (accessed May 13, 2010).

Christopher Woods

Associate Professor of Sumerology, University of Chicago