The Worst Businessman of the 18th Century BC (2018)

I just love this:<p>&gt; <i>“The copper of mine, give it to Nigga-Nanna – good copper, in order that my heart shall not be troubled.”</i><p>&gt; <i>“May Samas bless your life. ... In order that your heart shall not be troubled, give good copper to him.”</i><p>“May your heart not be troubled..” It’s just a small sample of letters, but it seems people from 4000 years ago had better empathy than us.<p>Why do we not show each other this kind of courtesy any more? Why do most of our interactions today seek to upset someone or become upset instead of seeking accord?

The city of Ur Kaśdim (Ur of the Chaldeans) is the birthplace of Jewish patriarch Abraham. 1)<p>It was identified with Tell el-Muqayyar by Henry Rawlinson in 1862, situated near Nasiriyah in southern Iraq. 2)<p><i>1) <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.biblegateway.com&#x2F;passage&#x2F;?search=Genesis+11%3A31&amp;version=NIV" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.biblegateway.com&#x2F;passage&#x2F;?search=Genesis+11%3A31...</a> </i><p><i>2) <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Ur_of_the_Chaldees" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Ur_of_the_Chaldees</a> </i>

Previous discussion: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=15669759" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=15669759</a>

&quot;the work that you have done is soooooooo good.&quot;<p>How did they translate the &quot;soooooooo&quot; part? Were ancient people really using this kind of tone?

This is actually really entertaining. I thought I had read somewhere that there are thousands of untranslated ancient Sumerian&#x2F;Babylonian&#x2F;Akkadian tablets. Does anyone know if this is true?

Slightly off-topic.<p>Ever since I came across the Proto-Zagrosian hypothesis [0] [1] and subsequent dravidian linguistics papers [2], I can’t stop looking at words like Ur and not make a mental connection.<p>Even some of the names here sound more plausible if I mentally substitute the letters with equivalent dravidian alphabets.<p>I was browsing Google maps around my home town and I coundn’t stop seeing the root words - Bangalore (Bangal - Ur), Mysore (Mys- Ur), Hosur (Hos - Ur), Coimbatore- (Coimbat - Ur).<p>I have no training in linguistics so I’m going to admit that many of these are probably just words that look similar. Any dravidian linguists here want to chime in?<p>I’m really excited to see how studies in Proto-Zagrosian evolve and what new connections we might find from it.<p>[0] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.m.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Elamo-Dravidian_languages" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.m.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Elamo-Dravidian_languages</a><p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.jstor.org&#x2F;stable&#x2F;10.7817&#x2F;jameroriesoci.135.3.551?seq=1" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.jstor.org&#x2F;stable&#x2F;10.7817&#x2F;jameroriesoci.135.3.551...</a><p>[2] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;link.springer.com&#x2F;article&#x2F;10.1007&#x2F;s12284-011-9076-9" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;link.springer.com&#x2F;article&#x2F;10.1007&#x2F;s12284-011-9076-9</a>

This Ea-Nasir guy was certainly no Kushim. Kushim would never mess you around like that!

Do I need to update my filters? Why can forbes detect my adblocker?

I hear Softbank are offering 20 billion