Ninurta-Pāqidāt's Dog Bite, also known as ''The Tale of the Illiterate Doctor in Nippur'', is a text in Akkadian

cuneiform Cuneiform is a Logogram, logo-Syllabary, syllabic writing system that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Near East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. Cuneiform script ...

, recorded on clay Tablet W 23558 - IM 78552, from the reign of King

Marduk-balassu-iqbi Marduk-balāssu-iqbi, inscribed mdAMAR.UTU-TI''-su-iq-bi''Kudurru AO 6684 in the Louvre, published as RA 16 (1919) 126 iv 17. or mdSID-TI-''zu''-DUG4,''Synchronistic King List'' fragment, Ass 13956dh (KAV 182), iii 13. meaning "Marduk has promised ...

Babylon Babylon ( ) was an ancient city located on the lower Euphrates river in southern Mesopotamia, within modern-day Hillah, Iraq, about south of modern-day Baghdad. Babylon functioned as the main cultural and political centre of the Akkadian-s ...

. It includes one of the earliest examples of

scatological humour Toilet humour or potty humour is a type of off-colour humour dealing with: defecation (including diarrhea and constipation), in which case it is called scatological humour (compare scatology); urination; flatulence, in which case it is called fl ...

The man from Nippur and the priest from Isin

According to its colophon, it was written "for educating apprentice scribes of

Uruk Uruk, the archeological site known today as Warka, was an ancient city in the Near East, located east of the current bed of the Euphrates River, on an ancient, now-dried channel of the river in Muthanna Governorate, Iraq. The site lies 93 kilo ...

," It has garnered much academic attention, since it was first published in 1979 by Antoine Cavigneaux when "the text was not properly understood", from which it can be inferred he did not understand the joke. A certain Ninurta-Pāqidāt, the brother of Ninurta-ša-kunnâ-irammu and nephew of Enlil-Nippuru-ana-ašrišu-ter (both absurd names), of

Nippur Nippur (Sumerian language, Sumerian: ''Nibru'', often logogram, logographically recorded as , EN.LÍLKI, "Enlil City;"I. E. S. Edwards, C. J. Gadd, N. G. L. Hammond, ''The Cambridge Ancient History: Prolegomena & Prehistory'': Vol. 1, Part 1, Ca ...

was bitten by a dog, the symbol of Gula, the goddess of healing. He sought help from Amel-Baba, a priest from

Isin Isin (, modern Arabic language, Arabic: Ishan al-Bahriyat) is an archaeological site in Al-Qādisiyyah Governorate, Iraq which was the location of the Ancient Near East city of Isin, occupied from the late 4th millennium Uruk period up until at ...

, who, after reciting the appropriate anti-

rabies Rabies is a viral disease that causes encephalitis in humans and other mammals. It was historically referred to as hydrophobia ("fear of water") because its victims panic when offered liquids to drink. Early symptoms can include fever and abn ...

incantation:

Journey to Nippur and miscommunication

Amel-Baba must travel to

to collect his fee. On arrival, he encounters Bēltīya-šarrat-Apsî ("who tends the garden called Abundance of Enlil and sits t aplot on Right Street selling vegetables"), the daughter of Ra'im-kini-Marduk, who insists in communicating with him in Sumerian (the language of ancient Nippur many centuries earlier), causing much misunderstanding when he mistakes her for mocking him and is threatened with being driven out of town by an outraged mob of apprentice scribes with their buns (clay practice tablets). Despite the efforts of generations of Assyriologists, such as

Erica Reiner Erica Reiner (4 August 1924 – 31 December 2005) was an American Assyriologist and author. From 1974, she was editor of the '' Chicago Assyrian Dictionary'', which was published in 21 volumes over 55 years, being completed in 2011 after her d ...

("Why do you cuss me?"), the punch-line remained elusive, until the Sumerian response, ''en.nu.dúr.me-en'', was translated as "O (my) lord, I am a farter," thus identifying the piece as an early exemplar of lavatorial humor.

References

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External links

* Ninurta-paqidat's Dog-Bite a
eTACT
9th-century BC inscriptions 1979 archaeological discoveries Bilingual books Flatulence humor Akkadian literature Clay tablets Isin Uruk Dogs in literature