ANCIENT WAR OF NERVES REVEALED

Rotorua Morning Post, Issue 5318, 3 February 1947, Page 3

ANCIENT WAR OF NERVES REVEALED

SUMEMAN1 TABLET SIGXS OF HIGIZ CIVILISATION 5000 YEARS AGO. ISTANBUL. j Tlie existence of a clay tablet upon j %vhich is inseribed the longest SumeI rian epic poem known — aml probably j the oldest pieee of literature ever disi covered — lias been diselosed. The ! square tablet, while smaller in size J than a pieee of ordinary typewriting j paper, is still one of the largest Sumej rian literary tablets in existence. By j dividing the pieee of clay into six j colamns on each side and using a niinute script, the ancient author squeezed 6-39 lines of his poem on the tablet. Dr. Samuel N. Ivramer, associate curator of the Babylonian section of the University Museum. at Philadelphia, copied and interpreted the poem, vvhieh he has entitled "Enmarkar antl the Lord . of Aratta." Kramer also is annual professor of the American School of Oriental Research at Bagdad.

Working patiently in a barren, often ehilly room at the Istanbul Aluseum of the Ancient Orient, Kramer brottght to light the poem, vvhieh far surpasses in age the classic Greek epics of the Odyssey and the Iliad. While Kramer predicts a long discussion betvveen scholars over exact translations, he has by minute study and copying of the ancient euneiform cr wedge-shaped eharaeters satisfied hintself as to the tale they relate.

He says it tells the story of a political victory more than 5000 vears ir. vvhi°h King Idnmarkar of Erech, oue of the most important of the Sumerian cities, used a system of "v/ar of nerves" niuch iike that used to-day. j The King sent his ambassador over S seven mountain ranges to the c-ity of j Aratta. located either in Persia or i vvesteni Iiulia. Bent on subjecting the I city, jn'oba'oly so that he could take ; from it the raw materials of metal and I stone vvhieh vvere lacking in H>i: mer, ! Ennutrkar first made sr.re that he had Ihe sup])ort of the Goddess Inanna — Sumerian couiTerpart of the Greek Gnddi'c-s Aphvodite — and then loosened his 'Avar of nerves" on the Lord of Aratta and the re.sidents of the city. I'oiuica] Pressnre. Back aml forth betvveen Erech and Aratta travelled the emissary, applying political pressnre until, finally, i Ihe movale of the people vvas hroken j ar.d the c'tv fell as vassul of Enmari kar. j Sumerian is the oldest vvritten litej rature of nny significant amount j known to v;an. Srtlled in an area bej twftn the Tio ti? and Ecphracas | rivers, and extetiding fiom ihe Persia u | Guif to a point about-Ki!) niilcs north i cf whai novv is Bagdad, ihe Humerians ' developcd an extiernely high eivilisa- ! tion wlik-h rtached its peak betvveen 3000 and 35*00 B.C. It vvas abuut this same perio.l vvhen the Egypiian eulitu'o vipemd, b.t scholars to-day kave a much better iiicture of Fnmerian literature than that develov-od along tiie Xile, at least for this earlier period. The reason, Kramer says, is that tbe piolific Sumerians cut their eharaeters into clay and left them in the sun to hurdon, while the Egyptians vvrote on parchment that s'ood little chance of preservation in ihe thousands of years to follow.

3000 Tablets Discovered. A great wealth of Sumerian literary tablets vvas uneovered in the excavation 50 years ago of the a)i+ cient city of Nippur, not far from what is novv Bagdad. Aboufc 3000 vvere taken from the ruins and novv ai'c almost equally divided betvveen tbe Ancient Orient Museum and the University Museum in Philadelpliia. For one reason or another, a great majority of these tables have remained vincopied and unpublished, and H vvas during an examination of stili untouched clays that Kramer came across his masterpiece. He came to Istanbul first in 1037 and copied *1 07 tablets in a period of 18 mpnths. His vvork vvas carried on vvith close co-opei*ation vvith the Turkish Ministry of Education and the Department of Antiquities, vvhieh is helping him once again in his sceond study of the culture. Kramer vviil leave again for Bagdad to study a number of nevv Sumerian ! tablets i'ound only reeently, and in February intends to return to Philadelphia to begin preparation of a scientific edition of' tbe epic poem. If it proves practicable, Kramer said, scholars from the Universities of Chicago and Yale vvould probably joln in the translation and interpretation. Kramer's project vvas supported jointly by the American School of Oriental Research and the University Museum.