Enmerkar, in Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta, Neo-Sumerian period (ca. 21st century BCE). Text online at The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature.
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Chant to him the holy song, the incantation sung in its chambers -- the incantation of Nudimmud: "On that day when there is no snake, when there is no scorpion, when there is no hyena, when there is no lion, when there is neither dog nor wolf, when there is thus neither fear nor trembling, man has no rival! At such a time, may the lands of Šubur and Ḫamazi, the many-tongued, and Sumer, the great mountain of the me of magnificence, and Akkad, the land possessing all that is befitting, and the Martu land, resting in security -- the whole universe, the well-guarded people -- may they all address Enlil together in a single language! For at that time, for the ambitious lords, for the ambitious princes, for the ambitious kings, Enki [...] -- Enki, the lord of abundance and of steadfast decisions, the wise and knowing lord of the Land, the expert of the gods, chosen for wisdom, the lord of Eridug, shall change the speech in their mouths, as many as he had placed there, and so the speech of mankind is truly one.

— Enmerkar on Enki

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Chant to him the holy song, the incantation sung in its chambers -- the incantation of Nudimmud: "On that day when there is no snake, when there is no scorpion, when there is no hyena, when there is no lion, when there is neither dog nor wolf, when there is thus neither fear nor trembling, man has no rival! At such a time, may the lands of Šubur and Ḫamazi, the many-tongued, and Sumer, the great mountain of the me of magnificence, and Akkad, the land possessing all that is befitting, and the Martu land, resting in security -- the whole universe, the well-guarded people -- may they all address Enlil together in a single language! For at that time, for the ambitious lords, for the ambitious princes, for the ambitious kings, Enki [...] -- Enki, the lord of abundance and of steadfast decisions, the wise and knowing lord of the Land, the expert of the gods, chosen for wisdom, the lord of Eridug, shall change the speech in their mouths, as many as he had placed there, and so the speech of mankind is truly one." in the context of "Enmerkar, in Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta, Neo-Sumerian period (ca. 21st century BCE). Text online at The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature." to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Enki" (Quotes about Enki) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Enmerkar

About Enmerkar

Enmerkar (Sumerian: ???????????????? EN.me.er.kar2, born circa 27th-century BCE) is a legendary king listed as the builder of the Sumerian city of Uruk.