Wisdom literature is agenre of literature common in theancient Near East. It consists of statements bysages and thewise that offer teachings aboutdivinity andvirtue. Although this genre uses techniques of traditionaloral storytelling, it was disseminated in written form.
The earliest known wisdom literature dates back to the middle of the 3rd millennium BC, originating from ancientMesopotamia andEgypt. These regions continued to produce wisdom literature over the subsequent two and a half millennia. Wisdom literature from Jewish, Greek, Chinese, and Indian cultures started appearing around the middle of the 1st millennium BC. In the 1st millennium AD, Egyptian-Greek wisdom literature emerged, some elements of which were later incorporated into Islamic thought.
Much of wisdom literature can be broadly categorized into two types – conservative "positive wisdom" and critical "negative wisdom" or "vanity literature":[1][2][3][4][5]
Another common genre is existential works that deal with the relationship between man and God, divine reward and punishment, theodicy, the problem of evil, and why bad things happen to good people. The protagonist is a "just sufferer" – a good person beset by tragedy, who tries to understand his lot in life. The most well known example is the Book of Job, however it was preceded by, and likely based on, earlier Mesopotamian works such asTheBabylonian Theodicy (sometimes calledThe Babylonian Job),Ludlul bēl nēmeqi ("I Will Praise the Lord of Wisdom" or "The Poem of the Righteous Sufferer"),Dialogue between a Man and His God, and the SumerianMan and His God.[5]
The literary genre ofmirrors for princes, which has a long history inIslamic and WesternRenaissance literature, is a secular cognate of wisdom literature. Inclassical antiquity, thedidactic poetry ofHesiod, particularly hisWorks and Days, was regarded as a source of knowledge similar to the wisdom literature ofEgypt,Babylonia and Israel.[citation needed]Pre-Islamic poetry is replete with many poems of wisdom, including the poetry ofZuhayr bin Abī Sūlmā (520–609).
The wisdom literature fromSumer andBabylonia is among the most ancient in the world, with the Sumerian documents dating back to thethird millennium BC and the Babylonian dating to thesecond millennium BC. Many of the extant texts uncovered atNippur are as ancient as the 18th century BC. Most of these texts are wisdom in the form of dialogues or hymns, such as theHymn to Enlil, the All-Beneficent from ancient Sumer.[6]
Proverbs were particularly popular among the Sumerians, with many fables and anecdotes therein, such as theDebate Between Winter and Summer, whichAssyriologistSamuel Noah Kramer has noted as paralleling the story ofCain and Abel in theBook of Genesis (Genesis 4:1–16)[7] and the form of disputation is similar to that betweenJob and his friends in theBook of Job (writtenc. 6th century BC).[8]
My lord, I have reflected within my reins, [...] in [my] heart. I do not know what sin I have committed. Have I [eaten] a very evilforbidden fruit? Does brother look down on brother? —Dialogue between a Man and His God,c. 19th–16th centuries BC[9]
Several other ancient Mesopotamian texts parallel the Book of Job, including the SumerianMan and his God (remade by theOld Babylonians intoDialogue between a Man and His God,c. 19th–16th centuries BC) and theAkkadian text,The Poem of the Righteous Sufferer;[10] the latter text concerns a man who has been faithful his whole life and yet suffers unjustly until he is ultimately delivered from his afflictions.[11] The ancient poem known as theBabylonian Theodicy from 17th to 10th centuries BC also features a dialogue between a sufferer and his friend on the unrighteousness of the world.[12]
The 5th-century BCAramaic storyWords of Ahikar is full of sayings and proverbs, many similar to local Babylonian and Persian aphorisms as well as passages similar to parts of theBook of Proverbs and others to thedeuterocanonicalWisdom of Sirach.[13]
Instructions of Shuruppak[14] (mid-3rd millennium BC, Sumer): The oldest/earliest known wisdom literature,[5][15][1] as well as one of the longest-lived,[5] and most widely disseminated in Mesopotamia.[16] It presents advice from a father (Shuruppak) to his son (Ziusudra) on various aspects of life, from personal conduct tosocial relations. TheInstructions contain precepts that reflect those later included in theTen Commandments,[17] and other sayings that are reflected in the biblicalBook of Proverbs.[14]
TheCounsels of Wisdom (AKA "Teachings of the Sages"): A 150-line compilation of Sumerian and Akkadian proverbs that cover a variety of topics, including ethical conduct and wisdom. Specific topics include: what kind of company to keep, conflict avoidance and diffusion, importance of propriety in speech, the reward of personal piety, etc.[18]
The Instructions ofUr-Ninurta (early-2nd millennium BC): Includes two wisdom sections – “the instructions of the god” and “the instructions of the farmer”. The “instructions of the god” recommend proper religious and moral behavior by contrasting the reward of the god‐fearing with the punishment of the disobedient. The “instructions of the farmer” include agricultural advice.[1] The text ends with short expressions of humility and submission.[19][20]
Instructions of Shupe‐Ameli (AKA: "S(h)ima Milka" or "Hear the Advice"): A father provides his son with conservative "Positive Wisdom" (to work with friends, avoid bad company, not desire other men's wives, etc.); however, the son counters with critical "Negative Wisdom" commonly found in the "Vanity Literature" or "Wisdom in Protest" genre of wisdom literature (it is all pointless since you will die).[2][5]
Nig-Nam Nu-Kal ("Nothing is of Value"): A number of short Sumerian that celebrate life with the repeated refrain "Nothing is of worth, but life itself is sweet".[5]
Inancient Egyptian literature, wisdom literature belonged to thesebayt ("teaching") genre which flourished during theMiddle Kingdom of Egypt and becamecanonical during theNew Kingdom. Notable works of this genre include theInstructions of Kagemni,The Maxims of Ptahhotep, theInstructions of Amenemhat, theLoyalist Teaching. Hymns such asA Prayer toRe-Har-akhti (c. 1230 BC) feature the confession of sins and appeal for mercy:
Do not punish me for my numerous sins, [for] I am one who knows not his own self, I am a man without sense. I spend the day following after my [own] mouth, like a cow after grass.[21]
Much of the surviving wisdom literature of ancient Egypt was concerned with theafterlife. Some of these take the form of dialogues, such asThe Debate Between a Man and his Soul from 20th–18th centuries BC, which features a man from theMiddle Kingdom lamenting about life as he speaks with hisba.[22] Other texts display a variety of views concerning life after death, including the rationalist skepticalThe Immortality of Writers and theHarper's Songs, the latter of which oscillates between hopeful confidence and reasonable doubt.[23]
TheCorpus Hermeticum is a piece ofEgyptian-Greek wisdom literature in the form of a dialogue betweenHermes Trismegistus and a disciple. The majority of the text dates to the 1st–4th century AD, though the original material may be older;[24] recent scholarship confirms that thesyncretic nature of Hermeticism arose during the times ofRoman Egypt, but the contents of the tradition parallel the older wisdom literature of Ancient Egypt, suggesting origins during thePharaonic Age.[25][26] The Hermetic texts of the Egyptians mostly dealt withsummoning spirits, animating statues,Babylonian astrology, and the then-new practice ofalchemy; additional mystical subjects include divine oneness, purification of the soul, and rebirth through the enlightenment of the mind.[27]
The wisdom literature of Egyptian Hermeticism ended up as part ofIslamic tradition, with his writings considered by theAbbasids as sacred inheritance from theProphets and Hermes himself as the ancestor ofMuhammad. In the version of the Hermetic texts kept by theIkhwan al-Safa, Hermes Trismegistus is identified as the ancient prophetIdris; according to their tradition, Idris traveled fromEgypt into heaven andEden, bringing theBlack Stone back to earth when he landed inIndia.[28] Thestar-worshipping sect known as theSabians of Harran also believed that their doctrine descended from Hermes Trismegistus.[29]
The most famous examples of wisdom literature in the western world are found in theBible.[30][31] Wisdom[a] is a central topic in theSapiential Books,[b] i.e.,Proverbs,Psalms,Job,Song of Songs,Ecclesiastes,Book of Wisdom,Wisdom of Sirach, and to some extentBaruch. Not all the Psalms are usually regarded as belonging to the Wisdom tradition.[34] Others such asEpistle of Aristeas,Pseudo-Phocylides and4 Maccabees are also considered sapiential.
The laterSayings of the Fathers, orPirkei Avot in theTalmud follows in the tradition of wisdom literature, focusing more onTorah study as a means for achieving a reward, rather than studying wisdom for its own sake.[35]
{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)Scholars generally locate the theoretical Hermetica, 100 to 300 CE;most would put C.H. I toward the beginning of that time. [...] [I]t should be noted that Jean-Pierre Mahe accepts a second-century limit only for the individual texts as they stand, pointing out that the materials on which they are based may come from the first century CE or even earlier. [...] To find theoretical Hermetic writings in Egypt, in Coptic [...] was a stunning challenge to the older view, whose major champion was Father Festugiere, that the Hermetica could be entirely understood in a post-Platonic Greek context.
Lutherans and Anglicans used it only for ethical / devotional matters but did not consider it authoritative in matters of faith.
Media related toWisdom literature at Wikimedia Commons