The Debate Between Bird and Fish: The Age-old Problem of Difficult Neighbors (opens in new tab)

The Debate Between Bird and Fish (written circa 2000 BCE) is a Sumerian poem dated to the Ur III Period (circa 2112-circa 2004 BCE) when the genre of the literary debate was especially popular. The poem is the earliest extant on the theme of difficult neighbors and how quickly problems can escalate.