
The Worst Businessman of the 18th Century BC (2018) - respinal
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kristinakillgrove/2018/05/11/meet-the-worst-businessman-of-the-18th-century/
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Razengan
I just love this:

> _“The copper of mine, give it to Nigga-Nanna – good copper, in order that my
> heart shall not be troubled.”_

> _“May Samas bless your life. ... In order that your heart shall not be
> troubled, give good copper to him.”_

“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.

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?

~~~
dmcdm
Really? I take this as evidence indicating basically the opposite -
fundamental human nature, as reflected through our communications and business
practices, hasn't changed significantly in thousands of years. Some folks
might be courteous, giving others the benefit of the doubt in hopes they'll
"catch more flies with honey" or, more-likely, due to pervasive social norms
and taboos. Others might issue thinly-veiled or direct threats, hoping to
coerce the desired outcome. Either way, there have been shady business people
and the ripped-off, the scammers and the scammed, for going on 4 millennia, at
the very least, and there really is no sign the status quo going to change. If
anything, this should dispel our romances of the human condition. The form is
immaterial to the underlying function of the communication. "I feel ripped
off, please deliver the goods."

~1800 years later, and 2 millennia ago, the graffiti at Pompeii
[http://www.pompeiana.org/Resources/Ancient/Graffiti%20from%2...](http://www.pompeiana.org/Resources/Ancient/Graffiti%20from%20Pompeii.htm)
tells a similar (and somewhat more humorous) story but in a different context.

~~~
lordgrenville
That link is fascinating, thanks for sharing. Two minor things that stuck out
to me:

\- "Kosher garum" \- didn't see that coming!

\- "På stora svenska online casino kan du alltid hitta casino spel från
Netent, spelen har översatts till många språk inklusive svenska." I don't
speak Swedish but is this randomly injected online gambling spam?!

~~~
poizan42
> På stora svenska online casino kan du alltid hitta casino spel från Netent,
> spelen har översatts till många språk inklusive svenska." I don't speak
> Swedish but is this randomly injected online gambling spam?!

Yes, it looks like the page has been compromised.

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wolfhumble
The city of Ur Kaśdim (Ur of the Chaldeans) is the birthplace of Jewish
patriarch Abraham. 1)

It was identified with Tell el-Muqayyar by Henry Rawlinson in 1862, situated
near Nasiriyah in southern Iraq. 2)

_1)[https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+11%3A31...](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+11%3A31&version=NIV)
_

_2)[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ur_of_the_Chaldees](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ur_of_the_Chaldees)
_

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elihu
Previous discussion:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15669759](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15669759)

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csomar
"the work that you have done is soooooooo good."

How did they translate the "soooooooo" part? Were ancient people really using
this kind of tone?

~~~
Razengan
A particularly long line perhaps?

I suppose that must have been one way to be passive aggressive in cuneiform.

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

~~~
Bayart
AFAIK most of what's been in European collections for ages hasn't even been
transcribed. I remember Irving Finkel lamenting the utter lack of
Assyriologists.

~~~
lawlessone
are they online? i;m guessing not but would be cool if they were

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dilippkumar
Slightly off-topic.

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.

Even some of the names here sound more plausible if I mentally substitute the
letters with equivalent dravidian alphabets.

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).

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?

I’m really excited to see how studies in Proto-Zagrosian evolve and what new
connections we might find from it.

[0] [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elamo-
Dravidian_languages](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elamo-
Dravidian_languages)

[1]
[https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7817/jameroriesoci.135.3.551...](https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7817/jameroriesoci.135.3.551?seq=1)

[2]
[https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12284-011-9076-9](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12284-011-9076-9)

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

~~~
Razengan
If this were Reddit you could bank mad karma by saying something about EA
screwing people over for 3800 years.

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

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baot
I hear Softbank are offering 20 billion

