There's a famous part of the SKL that I think might be the earliest recorded instance of literary sarcasm:
> Shar-Kali-Sharri, son of Naram-Sin, ruled for 25 years. After him, who was king? Who *wasn't* king? Irgigi, Nanum, Imi, Elulu – the four of them ruled for only three years.
The next obvious candidate is the complaint tablet where someone named Nanni accused a merchant named Ea-Nasir of selling low-grade copper ingots, which is also interesting because it highlights that firewood was a somewhat valuable resource.
Then there's a number of Sumerian jokes/riddles/proverbs that have survived due to having become part of later scribal curricula. Here's a riddle that's fairly well known in its shortened form (because the omitted parts don't make much sense):
> There is a house. One enters it blind and comes out seeing. What is it?
Ur-Nammu's law code is also interesting, especially the prologue where he is depicted as a defender of justice and equality which at the time was somewhat of a new thing.
There are some interesting court records from the MBA, such as the case of an adopted daughter who was accused by family members of forging a will, and ultimately acquitted thanks to witness testimonies. Apart from being interesting on its own, the case is also unusual because one of the accusers, who were all ordered by the court not to sue her again over this matter, did later attempt to do just that, and was summarily punished by the authorities by "shaving off half his hair, piercing his nose, and marching him through the streets in restraints" which is a bit excessive IMO.
Some of the diplomatic correspondence is quite funny, like one of Ishme-Dagan's letters to Hammurabi:
> You made me address Zimri-Lim as his son [i.e. vassal]. Isn't he *my* vassal?
There are also some later letters where some Mesopotamian king (I forgot which one) complained repeatedly to the pharaoh Akhenaten that a statue of solid gold (which "is plentiful as sand in your lands" according to the Mesopotamian king) that had been promised to him by Akhenaten's predecessor had not yet arrived (since Akhenaten was more concerned with his new religion than with petty things like diplomacy) and when Akhenaten eventually did send a statue, it turned out that it was made of wood with only a gold coating, or something like that.
I would recommend first hand sources with their translations, since I assume they don't know Cuneiform :D, and The Ancient Near East by Amélie Kuhrt. Also Atlas of The Ancient Near East by Trevor Bryce is pretty comprehensive.
Haha no but I have toyed around with getting some playdough and styluses. Haven't found a writing guide that didn't seem like total bullshit but was still at their level though. I will look into the books!
Any letters/historical documents/sagas/songs that you'd recommend? They love the hurrian hymn. They tens to get really excited about anything from the period. I looked into doing Gilgamesh but it's hard to get around the sexier parts lol.
It's really cool you're doing this! When it comes to writing cuneiform, Irving Finkel might be a good and entertaining place to start. It's been a while since I've watched it, but this video [(here!)](https://youtu.be/zOwP0KUlnZg?si=EG7Qg8qqmIvfFSsW) might answer some initial questions. The most important thing really is to not draw the stylus across the clay but rather to simply impress it into it.
For letters, it seems the University of Chicago uploaded a pdf of Leo Oppenheim's *Letters from Mesopotamia* [(here!)](https://isac.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/uploads/shared/docs/letters_from_mesopotamia.pdf). I would especially recommend those of and to Ishme-Dagan, as already suggested, and also potentially some letters from Amarna: International correspondence sent to the Egyptian king during the Late Bronze Age. Also please consider reading the complaint tablet to Ea-nasir (pronounced something like "Eya-nahtsir") if only for its modern cultural impact!
A totally different text that may be interesting, depending on the age of your students, is the "adoption contract" of a woman called Lamassāni [(translation here!)](https://www.tumblr.com/ina-shumelim/753826083393159169/the-cruel-fate-of-lamass%C4%81ni?source=share) which I think shows well the intersectionality of class and gender based oppression.
There's a booklet called "A Sumerian Chrestomathy" by Konrad Volk which is really nice and approachable! Most of the texts are foundation/building inscriptions, but still it's a pretty neat little thing! :-D There are also some great, very personal Old Assyrian letters - check out Mogens Trolle Larsen's 'Ancient Kanesh' for background info, and [https://cdli.ox.ac.uk/wiki/doku.php?id=old\_assyrian\_letters](https://cdli.ox.ac.uk/wiki/doku.php?id=old_assyrian_letters) has some nice examples!
There's a famous part of the SKL that I think might be the earliest recorded instance of literary sarcasm: > Shar-Kali-Sharri, son of Naram-Sin, ruled for 25 years. After him, who was king? Who *wasn't* king? Irgigi, Nanum, Imi, Elulu – the four of them ruled for only three years. The next obvious candidate is the complaint tablet where someone named Nanni accused a merchant named Ea-Nasir of selling low-grade copper ingots, which is also interesting because it highlights that firewood was a somewhat valuable resource. Then there's a number of Sumerian jokes/riddles/proverbs that have survived due to having become part of later scribal curricula. Here's a riddle that's fairly well known in its shortened form (because the omitted parts don't make much sense): > There is a house. One enters it blind and comes out seeing. What is it? Ur-Nammu's law code is also interesting, especially the prologue where he is depicted as a defender of justice and equality which at the time was somewhat of a new thing. There are some interesting court records from the MBA, such as the case of an adopted daughter who was accused by family members of forging a will, and ultimately acquitted thanks to witness testimonies. Apart from being interesting on its own, the case is also unusual because one of the accusers, who were all ordered by the court not to sue her again over this matter, did later attempt to do just that, and was summarily punished by the authorities by "shaving off half his hair, piercing his nose, and marching him through the streets in restraints" which is a bit excessive IMO. Some of the diplomatic correspondence is quite funny, like one of Ishme-Dagan's letters to Hammurabi: > You made me address Zimri-Lim as his son [i.e. vassal]. Isn't he *my* vassal? There are also some later letters where some Mesopotamian king (I forgot which one) complained repeatedly to the pharaoh Akhenaten that a statue of solid gold (which "is plentiful as sand in your lands" according to the Mesopotamian king) that had been promised to him by Akhenaten's predecessor had not yet arrived (since Akhenaten was more concerned with his new religion than with petty things like diplomacy) and when Akhenaten eventually did send a statue, it turned out that it was made of wood with only a gold coating, or something like that.
I would recommend first hand sources with their translations, since I assume they don't know Cuneiform :D, and The Ancient Near East by Amélie Kuhrt. Also Atlas of The Ancient Near East by Trevor Bryce is pretty comprehensive.
Haha no but I have toyed around with getting some playdough and styluses. Haven't found a writing guide that didn't seem like total bullshit but was still at their level though. I will look into the books! Any letters/historical documents/sagas/songs that you'd recommend? They love the hurrian hymn. They tens to get really excited about anything from the period. I looked into doing Gilgamesh but it's hard to get around the sexier parts lol.
It's really cool you're doing this! When it comes to writing cuneiform, Irving Finkel might be a good and entertaining place to start. It's been a while since I've watched it, but this video [(here!)](https://youtu.be/zOwP0KUlnZg?si=EG7Qg8qqmIvfFSsW) might answer some initial questions. The most important thing really is to not draw the stylus across the clay but rather to simply impress it into it. For letters, it seems the University of Chicago uploaded a pdf of Leo Oppenheim's *Letters from Mesopotamia* [(here!)](https://isac.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/uploads/shared/docs/letters_from_mesopotamia.pdf). I would especially recommend those of and to Ishme-Dagan, as already suggested, and also potentially some letters from Amarna: International correspondence sent to the Egyptian king during the Late Bronze Age. Also please consider reading the complaint tablet to Ea-nasir (pronounced something like "Eya-nahtsir") if only for its modern cultural impact! A totally different text that may be interesting, depending on the age of your students, is the "adoption contract" of a woman called Lamassāni [(translation here!)](https://www.tumblr.com/ina-shumelim/753826083393159169/the-cruel-fate-of-lamass%C4%81ni?source=share) which I think shows well the intersectionality of class and gender based oppression.
Just going to second anything with Irving Finkel, he's a legend
Well, I would definitely mention Peter Pringle here. He is recreating ancient songs and using historically accurate instruments and rythms.
There's a booklet called "A Sumerian Chrestomathy" by Konrad Volk which is really nice and approachable! Most of the texts are foundation/building inscriptions, but still it's a pretty neat little thing! :-D There are also some great, very personal Old Assyrian letters - check out Mogens Trolle Larsen's 'Ancient Kanesh' for background info, and [https://cdli.ox.ac.uk/wiki/doku.php?id=old\_assyrian\_letters](https://cdli.ox.ac.uk/wiki/doku.php?id=old_assyrian_letters) has some nice examples!