You must log in or register to comment.
I love how everyone goes “it wasn’t chiselled!” and my first thought is, someone probably wrote this for them/recorded it for the court (or ancient equivalent) is the actual issue with the post!
Urm, actually… These glyphs were pressed into wet clay and then fired.
Much like Ea-nāşir should have been.
That was a deepfake. They did a dirty on him.
that’s cuneiform, actually. it isn’t chiselled into stone, but rather, is pressed into wet clay with a stylus. the more you know!
Is there like an actual translation, rather than a summary?
This page has a good translation; I’d paste directly, but it wasn’t pasting in cleanly on mobile.
Tell Ea-nasir: Nanni sends the following message:
When you came, you said to me as follows : “I will give Gimil-Sin (when he comes) fine quality copper ingots.” You left then but you did not do what you promised me. You put ingots which were not good before my messenger (Sit-Sin) and said: “If you want to take them, take them; if you do not want to take them, go away!”
What do you take me for, that you treat somebody like me with such contempt? I have sent as messengers gentlemen like ourselves to collect the bag with my money (deposited with you) but you have treated me with contempt by sending them back to me empty-handed several times, and that through enemy territory. Is there anyone among the merchants who trade with Telmun who has treated me in this way? You alone treat my messenger with contempt! On account of that one (trifling) mina of silver which I owe(?) you, you feel free to speak in such a way, while I have given to the palace on your behalf 1,080 pounds of copper, and umi-abum has likewise given 1,080 pounds of copper, apart from what we both have had written on a sealed tablet to be kept in the temple of Samas.
How have you treated me for that copper? You have withheld my money bag from me in enemy territory; it is now up to you to restore (my money) to me in full. Take cognizance that (from now on) I will not accept here any copper from you that is not of fine quality. I shall (from now on) select and take the ingots individually in my own yard, and I shall exercise against you my right of rejection because you have treated me with contempt.”
His servant traveling through enemy territory to do the trading should be considered at least as interesting as the complaint itself.
Brilliant, thanks very much
⬆️⬇️⬅️➡️↖️↗️↘️↙️↘️↖️↕️➡️↩️ ⬆️⬆️⬇️⬇️⬅️➡️⬅️➡️↖️↘️↖️↘️↩️‼️
(Epilepsy warning)
spoiler
Wouldn’t it have been soft when being written?
Yes. “Aggressively presses the reed stylus into the clay for 6 hours”
Tell Ea-nasir: Nanni sends the following message:
When you came, you said to me as follows : “I will give Gimil-Sin (when he comes) fine quality copper ingots.” You left then but you did not do what you promised me. You put ingots which were not good before my messenger (Sit-Sin) and said: “If you want to take them, take them; if you do not want to take them, go away!”
What do you take me for, that you treat somebody like me with such contempt? I have sent as messengers gentlemen like ourselves to collect the bag with my money (deposited with you) but you have treated me with contempt by sending them back to me empty-handed several times, and that through enemy territory. Is there anyone among the merchants who trade with Telmun who has treated me in this way? You alone treat my messenger with contempt! On account of that one (trifling) mina of silver which I owe(?) you, you feel free to speak in such a way, while I have given to the palace on your behalf 1,080 pounds of copper, and umi-abum has likewise given 1,080 pounds of copper, apart from what we both have had written on a sealed tablet to be kept in the temple of Samas.
How have you treated me for that copper? You have withheld my money bag from me in enemy territory; it is now up to you to restore (my money) to me in full.
Take cognizance that (from now on) I will not accept here any copper from you that is not of fine quality. I shall (from now on) select and take the ingots individually in my own yard, and I shall exercise against you my right of rejection because you have treated me with contempt.
Now I wanna know what it says exactly.
This is amazing. Thank you!
Relatable
