A reading, published with its checks still open. A Vigslist translation.
The small man and the big man — an unidentified proverb scrap. A Nippur proverb tablet whose collection the record itself calls unidentified.
Published as a reading. No first-translation claim is made for this piece. The checks that would settle such a claim are named in the notes below and are still open; the wording on this page claims nothing they have not settled.
Babylonian school tablet from Nippur whose proverb collection the record itself calls unidentified: no edition, no references, nothing on the record but the transliteration. Six obverse lines carry words; the rest is traces. Built as traces because an unidentified collection is exactly the ground this program keeps — with the door that could close it printed on the face.
One tablet: N.5225, Old Babylonian script, University of Pennsylvania Museum — from Nippur. The obverse carries an unidentified proverb collection; the reverse is not preserved (the record notes "reverse doodles?"). CDLI number on the live record: P231298. No photograph on the record.
What stands is the small-versus-big frame the proverbs loved: the young man picks the quarrel, the big man is wished into it, and a mother and an eldest brother pass through the traces. Six lines of words, then the clay gives out.
Transliteration exactly as the record serves it. Counts: 10 line-units — 0 whole, 2 part, 8 fragments, 0 invented. Traces class.
1. [(x)] x al-ur₁₁-ru gur nu-um-da-x-x "[…] … reaped; not […]" (traces around words)
2. lu₂-tur-re ga-ba-al mu-ni-in-du₃-uš-a "The young man started them a quarrel" (the rendering of ga-ba-al is uncertain)
3. lu₂-gu-la du₁₄ ha-ra-x-ib-mu₂-mu₂ "May the big man grow a quarrel for you […]" (uncertain in its second half)
4. lu₂-tur-re ama-ni ki an-aĝ₂ šeš gal šeš ga[l?] "The young man — his mother … the eldest brother, the brother […]" (words stand; the clause does not)
5. {lu₂}x-KE₄ ZE₂?# ĝen-na-ke₄ [...] (traces only)
6. alim?#-ma [...] x x [x x] "The mighty one(?) […]" (traces)
1′. ($___$) mu# x x x x (traces only)
2′. ($___$) mu lu₂-diĝir-ra?# "[…] the man of the god(?)" (one phrase in traces)
3′. ($___$) x x x (traces only)
4′. ($___$) x nam x (traces only)
Built 2026-10-22 from a fresh live eBL fetch.
Nuvira Technologies conducts this research with AI assistance, cross-verified against the primary sources to scholarly integrity standards. Uncertain readings are marked; broken lines are left broken.
— Richard Vigslist, Founder, Nuvira Technologies
More antiquities research: Antiquities Research