A new translation by University of Chicago Sumerologist Jana Matuszak has brought to light what may be the oldest known tale featuring a trickster fox. The myth, which is over 4,400 years old, was translated from a fragmented cuneiform tablet originally discovered in the ancient Sumerian city of Nippur.
Matuszak, an assistant professor in the Department of Middle Eastern Studies, recently published her findings in the journal Iraq. Her work presents the most complete version to date of this Sumerian narrative. While earlier scholars had partially translated sections since 1950, Matuszak’s research provides both the beginning and end of the story for the first time.
“It's the only known narrative that features the Sumerian storm god. There are no other myths that mention him,” said Matuszak. “And, of course, it's the first known narrative of a cunning fox. That shows us that this association of the fox with cleverness and trickster actions goes back well into the third millennium B.C.E.”
The Sumerian language is considered one of humanity’s oldest recorded languages and has not been spoken for about 4,000 years. It is classified as a language isolate and was primarily used by people living in what is now Iraq.
Translating early Sumerian texts poses significant challenges due to their age and ambiguity. Tablet Ni 12501 predates much commonly studied Sumerian literature by several centuries. “Most of what we commonly think of as Sumerian literature comes from around 1800 B.C.E. This text is a lot earlier,” said Matuszak. “Generally, the very earliest Sumerian literary texts are much less understood than the later texts.”
She added: “Because of the ambiguities of the cuneiform script, the devil is really in the details.”
Scholars today approach learning Sumerian similarly to how ancient Babylonians did when they preserved it as a written language for religious and scholarly use after it fell out of daily speech. “We're kind of learning Sumerian the way that Babylonians learned it,” Matuszak said.
The myth itself tells how Iškur, storm god and son of Enlil (the king among gods), becomes trapped in Kur—the netherworld—threatening drought on earth unless he returns. A Fox volunteers to rescue Iškur by journeying into Kur where he cleverly avoids being trapped himself.
“It starts with this image of rivers being full of water and teeming with fish, which is how Sumerians would have conceptualized abundance—plenty of water and multicolored cows grazing on grass,” Matuszak explained regarding her translation’s opening lines. She believes these scenes highlight what stands to be lost if Iškur does not return.
In addition to completing more parts than any previous effort, Matuszak identified linguistic links between Fox’s character and concepts like lying or treachery: “There's one cuneiform sign for Fox, which is also used to write the Sumerian words: lie, treacherous and falsehood,” she noted.
The story ends abruptly because only about a third of Tablet Ni 12501 survives; however, Matuszak remains optimistic about its protagonist’s fate: “I'm pretty optimistic that he'll manage to get out in the end,” she said. “He's too smart to fall into the trap.”
Matuszak expressed satisfaction at public interest generated by her discovery: “It makes me very happy to see that people relate to Sumerian literature... People feel like ‘Wow, I know about cunning foxes and their treacherous nature and Sumerians... thought the same way.’”