The following text is written on ancient Sumerian clay tablets, dating back to approximately 1600 BC, although the original text is believed to be several centuries older. Through a conversation between a father and a son, one of the eternal human themes is explored – relevant both today and in ancient Sumer – the relationship between parents and their children. As we read the complaints and admonitions of this Sumerian father, a smile of understanding involuntarily escapes us, as some things seem to never change… Parents consider it their duty to guide their children on the right path, while children prefer to follow their own ideas, indulging in wanderings and explorations. And later, when children become parents, the eternal story begins again…
The father starts by asking his son:
“Where are you going?”
“Nowhere, I’m not going anywhere.”
“If you’re not going anywhere, then why are you aimlessly wandering? Go to school, approach the ‘school father’, recite your assignment, open your school bag, write on your clay tablet, and let the ‘big brother’ write a new one for you. “Remember, when you finish your homework and report to the guard, come to me and don’t wander the streets. Come on, do you know what I told you?”
“I know, I’ll tell you.”
“Come on, repeat it now.”
“I will repeat it.”
“Speak.”
“You told me to go to school, to finish my homework, open my school bag, write a note, while ‘big brother’ writes a new note for me. When I finish my homework, I have to continue working and come to you after reporting to the guard first. That’s what you told me.”
Father continues:
“Come on, be a man. Don’t hang around squares, don’t wander aimlessly. When you walk on the street, don’t stare around. Be obedient and show fear in front of the guard. If you show him that you’re afraid of him, he will love you.”
(followed by fifteen illegible lines)
“You, who wander around the squares, do you want to achieve success? Then seek the first generations, ask them. You, troublemaker, what worry do I have – I wouldn’t be a man if I didn’t worry about my son – I talked to relatives, discussed I compared their men, but I couldn’t find anyone like you.
What I’m about to tell you turns fools into wise men, it tames snakes like magic, and it won’t let you follow empty words. Because my heart was overwhelmed with care for you, I kept my distance and didn’t care about your fears and complaints. Because of your protests, yes, because of your protests, I was angry, yes, I was angry. Because you don’t take care of your humanity, it’s as if a wicked wind has taken away my heart. Your complaints finished me off, you brought me to the brink of death.
Never in my life have I demanded that you bring reeds for kindling. You have never in your life carried reed shrubs that cut both the old and the young. I have never told you “follow my car”. I have never sent you to work, to plow the field. I have never sent you to work, to dig in the field. I have never sent you to work as a laborer. “Come on, work and help me,” I have never said to you in my life.
Your peers, on the other hand, have always demanded… help their parents with work. If you had talked to relatives and evaluated them better, you would have surpassed them. Each of them provides ten bushels of barley – even the younger ones provide their fathers, each with ten bushels of barley. They multiplied barley for their father, supplied him with barley, oil, and wool. And you, you are a man when it comes to mischief, but you are not a man compared to them. You certainly don’t work as much as they do – they are sons of fathers who demand their children to work, but I – I did not ask you to work like them.
You, troublemaker, who makes me angry – who is the man who can truly be angry at his son – I talked to relatives and discovered something I hadn’t noticed before. Beware of the words I will now address to you and take care of yourself. Your peer, your companion – you didn’t appreciate him; why don’t you surpass him? Your friend, your comrade – you didn’t appreciate him; why don’t you surpass him? Surpass your older brother. Surpass your younger brother. Of all the craftsmen who reside in our country, among all those who Enki (the god of arts and crafts) specifically called and created (brought into existence) them, no one has such a difficult job as the art of writing. Because without poetry – like the shores of the sea, those distant shores of digging deep, so far is the heart of poetry – you would not be listening to my advice now, and I would not be able to repeat the wisdom of my father. It is in line with the destiny announced by Enlil that the son follows the father’s job.
I struggle day and night because of you. Night and day you waste on bodily indulgences. You have accumulated much wealth, spent generously, grown fat, grown in size, strengthened, and swollen. But your relatives eagerly await your misfortune and will rejoice when it befalls you, because you have not taken care of your humanity.”
(An unclear paragraph of forty-one lines follows, presumably consisting of proverbs and sayings; the inscription then ends with the father’s poetic blessing.)
“May Nanna, your god, protect you from those who quarrel with you,
may Nanna, your god, protect you from those who attack you,
may you find m I seek solace in the presence of my god,
may your humanity elevate you, from head to toe,
may you become the leader of the wise in your city,
may your city pronounce your name in honorable places,
may your god address you by a good name,
may you find favor with your god, Nanna,
may the goddess Ningal look upon you with mercy.”