The instructions of Suruppag is an early example of a genre known as Mirrors for Princes, widely attested in Middle Eastern literature. Such works take the form of advice given to a young man, usually of royal blood, by an older male. In this case the introduction (1—13) situates the advice-giving in the distant past. The speaker is one Suruppag, son of Ubara-Tutu, and the advisee his son Zi-ud-sura. Suruppag is more commonly found in Sumerian literature as the name of a city and Ubara-Tutu as its ruler. In the Sumerian King List (ETCSL 2.1.1), for instance, Ubara-Tutu is portrayed as the last ruler of Sumer before the primordial flood:
30-9 Then Zimbir fell (?) and the kingship was taken to Suruppag. In Suruppag, Ubara-Tutu became king; he ruled for 18,600 years. i king; he ruled for 18,600 years. In 5 cities 8 kings; they ruled for 241,200 years. Then the flood swept over.
Zi-ud-sura, on the other hand, is found in the Sumerian Flood story (Group G) as the king who survives the flood, by building an ark-like boat onto which he loads animals and plants. Even in the first-millennium Babylonian Epic ofGilgames, attested a millennium and more later than The instructions of Suruppag, the flood survivor—under the Akkadian name Ut-napistim—is described as the son of Ubara-Tutu, king of Suruppag.
The advice itself comprises three long streams of proverb-like aphorisms, each of which ends: ‘Suruppag gave these instructions to his son. Suruppag, the son of Ubara-Tutu, gave these instructions to his son Zi-ud-sura.’ The first section (14—72), addressed directly to ‘you’, is primarily concerned with relationships with other people; the second (83—142) and third (153—276) are predominantly in the third person and have no overarching theme. The composition ends with praise to the goddess Nisaba (278—80).
The instructions of Suruppag was widely copied by trainee scribes in Old Babylonian Nibru. A version is also known from the Early Dynastic city of Abu ISalabikh.
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