Praise of the Pickaxe
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Summary
Date: 2000 B.C.E.
The Song of the Hoe, sometimes also known as the Creation of the pickaxe or the Praise of the pickaxe, is a Sumerian creation myth, written on clay tablets from the last century of the 3rd millennium BCE. The poem is composed of the frequent use of the word 'al', which means hoe. The verb-forms and nouns also frequently start with, or contain the syllable 'al' (or 'ar'), suggesting the writer intended it for humour as a satirical school text or as a tongue-twister. The song starts with a creation myth where Enlil separates heaven and earth in Duranki, the cosmic Nippur or 'Garden of the Gods'
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