Debate between tree and reed

The following translation of the introductory cosmogonic section of the Disputation, containing only the first 10 lines, is taken from Lisman 2013.^[6] The first 25 lines were published by Van Dijk in 1965^[7] but a translation of the entire text has still not been made.^[8]

1 The large surface of the earth introduced herself; then she has embellished herself as with a bardul-garment.

2 The vast earth has filled her exterior with precious metals and lapis lazuli.

3 With diorite, nir-stone, cornelian, and suduaga she has adorned herself.

4 The earth, the fragrant vegetation, covered herself with attractiveness. She stood in her magnificence.

5 The pure earth, the virgin earth, has beautified herself for the holy An.

6 An, the exalted heaven, had intercourse with the vast earth.

7 He poured the seed of the hero's Tree and Reed into her womb.

8 The whole earth, the fecund cow, took the good seed of An under her care.

9 The earth, life-giving vegetation, innerly happy, devoted herself to the production of it (i.e. the vegetation).

10 The earth, full of joy, bore abundance, while juice and syrup gave out their smell.

In Mesopotamian disputation literature, debates between trees is a recurring theme. In Akkadian disputations, examples include the Tamarisk and Palm, Palm and Vine, and Series of the Poplar.^[9] A much later example from Aesop's fables is The Oak and the Reed.^[10]

• Ceccarelli, Manuel (2020). "An Introduction to the Sumerian School Disputes: Subject, Structure, Function and Context". In Jimenez, Enrique; Mittermayer, Catherine (eds.). Disputation Literature in the Near East and Beyond. De Gruyter. pp. 33–56. ISBN 978-1-5015-1021-2.
• Jimenez, Enrique (2017). The Babylonian Disputation Poems. Brill.
• Lisman, J.W. (2013). Cosmogony, Theogony and Anthropogeny in Sumerian texts. Ugarit-Verlag.
• Mittermayer, Catherine (2023). "Learning Rhetoric through Sumerian Disputations". In Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures of the University of Chicago (ed.). Back to School in Babylonia. University of Chicago Press. pp. 181–190.
• Otero, Andrés Piquer (2020). "Those Who Cannot Do, Reign? The Sources of the Fable of Jotham". In Jimenez, Enrique; Mittermayer, Catherine (eds.). Disputation Literature in the Near East and Beyond. De Gruyter. pp. 143–156.
• Van Dijk, J.J.A. (1953). La sagesse suméro-accadienne. Recherches sur les genres littéraires des textes sapientiaux avec choix de textes. Brill.
• Van Dijk, J.J.A. (1965). "Le motif cosmique dans la pensée sumérienne". Acta Orientalia. 28: 1–59.
• West, M.L. (2013). Hellenica: Volume III: Philosophy, Music and Metre, Literary Byways, Varia. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-960503-3.