shankar kashyap

The city of Shuruppak lies on the banks of one of the tributaries of Euphrates 35 miles south of the city of Nippur at the site of Tell Fara. This was probably found by Shuruppak around 3000 BCE. The city features in the Epic of Gilgamesh and come to a watery end probably around 2000 BCE.
Cuneiform texts speak of warfare between cities and particularly the attacks by the Gutians. The number of tablets found in this site has given the city somewhat of a university atmosphere. These tablets feature anything from classroom texts to business deals and itemisation of object including plants and animals. The Sumerian King list puts Shuruppak as the son of Ubara Tutu, “last king before the big deluge”. King Shuruppak is known for the Instructions of Shuruppak, which is probably the oldest surviving Mesopotamian literature. Here, Shuruppak gives instructions to his son. He emphasises to…