Proverbs of Ancient Sumer: The World's Earliest Proverb Collections

However, even though quite a few proverbs in the collections remain obscure, their accumulative effect as a form of non-institutional social control is very clear. The main focus is on the individual house-holder on whose good judgement the happiness and survival of the whole family, and ultimately society, depend. The desirable virtues are level-headedness, thrift and foresight; vices such as lying, slander, sexual incontinence and profligacy are made responsible for social isolation and economic hardship. The general outlook is secular; although there are references to various Mesopotamian deities, the message is one of human self-reliance and responsibility for one's life. Humour and ridicule, well-known weapons of the weak, are frequently invoked to disparage arrogance, pomposity and the characteristic behaviour of certain members of Sumerian society, such as the camp and effeminate lamentation priests, corrupt overseers of public works, lazy household servants, and the poor. A large number of proverbs feature animals, especially dogs, foxes and donkeys, to convey messages about human failings.

Alster presents this treasure trove of ancient folk wisdom as it appears in the individual collections, where proverbs are often grouped together by a common theme or just by the initial graphic sign. There are 28 major collections, plus some smaller tablets, as well as isolated proverbs only preserved on exercise tablets. In the first volume he provides the transliterations of the original texts and an English translation: the second part contains the scholarly apparatus, photographs and transcriptions of the tablets and philological comment, plus a commentary on the collections and individual proverbs, often citing similar examples from other cultures. This is the part that most folklorists will wish were much longer. It would also have been very useful to have added an index to locate particular themes and subjects. Such desiderata however, cannot detract from the general immense value of this publication. No serious folklore library should be without it.

Gwendoly Leick, Richmond College, London

COPYRIGHT 1999 Folklore Society
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