Thread by @Moudhy

Teaching a class on wisdom literature in ancient Mesopotamia this term, which has meant perusing proverbs for students to translate.

Proverbs were also copied down and translated by Babylonian students as part of scribal education. They may reflect popular sayings (or not).

Anyway, here is a selection of Sumerian proverbs about dogs that are lovely and, perhaps, a little bit relatable.

“The dog understands: ‘Take it!’ It does not understand: ‘Put it down!’”

ur sa6-ga ur-tur-šè in-ku4

This Sumerian proverb reads, “A dog which is played with turns into a puppy.”

Another possible (more literal) translation of this proverb is, “A sweet dog has become a puppy again.”

On a 4,000-year-old school exercise tablet from Ur appears a proverb in Sumerian that reads, “When a dog snarls, throw a morsel at its mouth.”

The reverse of the tablet is covered in numerical notations.

“It is a dog’s lot to collect bones.” -Sumerian Proverb

A more literal translation is quite charming: “The inheritance share of a dog: bones are selected.”

“Thus speaks the dog to the pups: ‘You are mottled, you jump around, you are my dear children.” - Sumerian Proverb

Image: Old Babylonian plaque showing a dog and puppies commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Plaq…

All of these Sumerian proverbs that feature dogs (and many others) come from the ancient city of Ur in Iraq and can be read in translation here: etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.…