The Debate Poem (Disputation)
Grain and Sheep, Summer and Winter, argue their worth before a god — and the verdict orders the world.
The Sumerians delighted in 'debate poems': two rivals — Summer and Winter, Hoe and Plough, Grain and Sheep, Bird and Fish — each boast of their usefulness and disparage the other, until a god steps in to render judgment. Beneath the playful rhetoric lies serious reflection on the ordering of the world: which goods are higher, how the necessities of civilization rank, how dispute is resolved by lawful judgment rather than force. The genre is witty and rhetorically dazzling, and it shows a culture that valued structured argument and the wise adjudication of competing claims.
Key passages(7)
In those ancient days, when the good destinies had been decreed, and after An and Enlil had set up the divine rules of heaven and earth, then the third of them, ……, the lord of broad wisdom, Enki, the
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When, upon the hill of heaven and earth, An spawned the Anuna gods, since he neither spawned nor created grain with them, and since in the Land he neither fashioned the yarn of Uttu nor pegged out the
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O the Hoe, the Hoe, the Hoe, tied together with thongs; the Hoe, made from poplar, with a tooth of ash; the Hoe, made from tamarisk, with a tooth of sea-thorn; the Hoe, double-toothed, four-toothed; t
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An lifted his head in pride and brought forth a good day. He laid plans for …… and spread the population wide. Enlil set his foot upon the earth like a great bull. Enlil, the king of all lands, set hi
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(Silver (?) speaks:) Powerful with huge arms, does he have any rival? He walks carrying the precious hammer stone and anvil stone. He can create …… and thus make it larger -- ……, a brother, is your ri
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The debate between Date Palm and Tamarisk
The Tamarisk opened his mouth and spoke. He addressed the Date Palm: My body …… the bodies of the gods. You grow your fruits but someone places them before me like a maid approaching her mistress. You
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Maiden, the cattle-pen ……; maiden Inana, the sheepfold ……. …… bending in the furrows. Inana, let me stroll with you; …… the emmer ……. Young lady, let me ……. I am a woman and I won't do that, I won't!
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