Debate Between Sheep and Grain
Also known as: Lahar and Ashnan, Ewe and Grain, Disputation Between Sheep and Grain, Disputation Between Cattle and Grain
A Sumerian disputation in which the deities of livestock and grain argue their superiority before the great gods. Created to provision the divine assembly, Lahar and Ashnan present rival boasts until judgment affirms their complementary roles in sustaining civilization.
Description
This Sumerian disputation poem personifies the staples of early Mesopotamian life as the deities Lahar (livestock, often glossed as sheep) and Ashnan (grain). After the high gods create them to feed and clothe the divine assembly, the pair quarrel, each praising the gifts they bring—milk, wool, and hides versus bread, beer, and the order of settled fields. The debate unfolds in alternating speeches rich with catalogues of benefits and social functions. The gods are finally invoked to settle the matter, emphasizing that both pastoral and agrarian economies are essential within cosmic order and urban life. The poem likely served didactic purposes in scribal schools, illustrating rhetorical form, economic interdependence, and divine sanction for human livelihoods.
Historiography
Known from Old Babylonian school tablets, especially from Nippur, the poem belongs to the Sumerian disputation genre alongside debates such as Bird and Fish or Summer and Winter. Copying variants reflect pedagogical transmission, with formulaic openings and competitive speeches preserving a stable core. Modern editions draw on ETCSL composites and philological studies in Kramer, Black et al., and later revisions. No single author is identified, and recensional differences mostly concern ordering and lexical choices.
Date Notes
Sumerian disputation poem likely composed in the Ur III period and preserved in Old Babylonian school tablets, especially from Nippur.
Archetypes
Symbols
Major Characters
- Sheep
- Grain
- Enki
- Enlil
Myths
- Cosmic Debate of Primordial Gifts
- Judgment of Enki
Facts
- Belongs to the Sumerian disputation genre used in scribal education.
- Personifies grain (Ashnan) and livestock (Lahar) as deities engaged in formal debate.
- Frames pastoral and agrarian economies as complementary within divine order.
- Preserved mainly on Old Babylonian tablets, especially from Nippur.
- Features alternating boast-speeches and a divine adjudication.
- Highlights staple products: bread and beer versus milk, wool, and hides.
- Shares structure with debates like Bird and Fish and Summer and Winter.
- Language is Sumerian; likely composed in the Ur III milieu.
- Served didactic and rhetorical training functions for apprentice scribes.
- Often cited to illustrate early Mesopotamian views on civilization and subsistence.