Disputations or Literary Debates (Sumerian)

This work is an anonymous collection of Sumerian literary debates, or disputations, from around 2000 BCE. It is significant as an early example of a literary genre focused on rhetorical contests and intellectual arguments.

Sources for Disputations or Literary Debates (Sumerian)

• Read the full text
• https://www.gatewaystobabylon.com/myths/disputations.htm
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumerian_disputations

Disputations or Literary Debates (Sumerian) in Wisdom Literature

Held in the Wisdom Literature chamber of the Babel Nexus Index.

• Maxims of Ptahhotep (Egyptian) (−2400)
• The Instructions of Shuruppak (Sumerian) (−2600)
• Instructions of Amenemhat (Egyptian) (−1900)
• The Poem of the Righteous Sufferer (Ludlul bēl nēmeqi, Babylonian) (−1300)
• The Story of Aḥikar (Aramaic) (−500)
• Counsels of Wisdom (Babylonian) (−1000)
• Dialogue of Pessimism (Babylonian — "Nothing Is Of Value") (−1000)
• Instructions of Šūpê-amēli (Akkadian) (−1100)
• Instructions of Kagemni (Egyptian) (−2300)
• Nig-Nam Nu-Kal — "Nothing is of Value" (Sumerian) (−2000)
• Maxims of Ali ibn Abi Talib (c. 660)