• I Cast Fist@programming.dev
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    2 months ago

    Party pooper here - https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/4923/was-this-quote-on-a-clay-tablet-about-unruly-kids-written-by-an-assyrian

    Quoting the answer from there:

    In summary:

    • I have not shown whether or not this is a quote from an ancient work.
    • I’ve shown that the quote, and its provenance has survived largely intact since the 1920s at least.
    • In particular, it has been traced far further back than Sir Isaac Asimov’s book (as suggested by others here).
    • However, I have shown it was not both Assyrian and from 2800 BC. It may have in Akkadian, a related language, from 2800 BC, but that is earlier than any references I found so I find it unlikely. It might have been Sumerian.
    • IMHO, given the dubious provenance of the source, a more likely scenario is that it is either a true quote, oddly translated, from a much later date, or invented in the early 20th Century.