ON WOLVES AND KINGS. TWO TABLETS WITH AKKADIAN WISDOM TEXTS FROM THE SECOND MILLENNIUM B.C. (27th October 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Streck, Michael P.; Wasserman, Nathan
• Is Part Of: Iraq. Volume 78(2016)
• Page Start: 241
• Page End: 252
• Publication Date: 2016-10-27
• Subjects: Iraq -- Antiquities -- Periodicals; 935.005
• DOI: 10.1017/irq.2016.11
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0021-0889

Abstract

Abstract : The lair of the wolf is his refuge, and where he has made him his home, Not even the head wolf may enter, not even the council may come. Rudyard Kipling, The Law of the Jungle In this paper two Akkadian wisdom texts are edited and discussed. BM 13928 is an unpublished Old Babylonian list of proverbial sayings and admonitions concerning a wolf and a king. CBS 14235 is a Middle Babylonian tablet which describes the royal life and contrasts it to the behavior of wild animals. The two texts add to the growing corpus of Akkadian wisdom literature of the second millenniumb.c. and offer a new angle to our understanding of royal ideology of the period.