Tag: Sari Pul

Work and Play in Sar-e Pol Province, Afghanistan

sar-e_pol-e_zahab_anubanini_drawing

What kind of game are these idiots supposed to be playing?

Nobody knows, and on the original tablet (circa 3000 BCE) in Sar-e Pol Province, Afghanistan, an inscription only explains that “Anubanni the Great and Mighty King of Lullubia carved himself and the Goddess Ninni on Mount Badir, and if anyone defaces this tablet, may Anum and Anat, Enkit and Belkit, Adad and Ninni, Sin and Shamas kill and curse him.”

It would be an understatement to say that nobody knows much about the Lullubians and their kings, and after describing a lot of scholarly speculation, the Encyclopedia Iranica admits that “It is impossible to indicate the boundaries of the land of the Lullubians.”

So all we really know about Anubanni the Great and Mighty King of Lullubia is that he carved himself a ridiculous monument once upon a time and vanished, and many another king and kingdom likewise in the very old world of Afghanistan, but for hard-working children on the streets of Sar-e Pol City, how much has changed in the last 5000 years?

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