Materiali per una definizione della più antica sapienza siriana. I proverbi di Mari e di Ebla

The article brings together and discusses forty-seven Semitic proverbs attested in cuneiform texts from Early and Middle Bronze Age Syria (forty-four from Old Babylonian Mari and three from Early Syrian Ebla). They are further divided into proverbs introduced as a t?ltum - "(popular) saying" - or directly quoted in letters, and proverbs dealing with the natural world (animals, plants) or with human society. A short commentary on the Ebla text ARET XIII 19 is also offered