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Comment by danielvf | Hacker News Reader

Here's a link to the full text

http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/section5/tr532.htm

This seems like 3,000BC version of a rap battle, with rhyming put downs and brags.

Unlike apparently everyone else, I can't see any likeness with the story of Cain and Able, other than the involvement of plants and animals. https://www.blueletterbible.org/nlt/gen/4/1/s_4001

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Cain offered grain (or at least produce) as a sacrifice. Abel offered a lamb (a living sacrifice). Abel's offering is deemed worthy, whereas Cain's is not.

I'd say the similarity between the two is that they both present an opposition of grain and sheep. I agree with you, that is not incredibly similar.

I'd wager that during the time that all these things were written, the common themes and archetypes would probably have been more apparently and obvious to the people, even if they seem kind of like a stretch to us.

Yep, I would bet that the reason the Cain and Abel story is referenced is because during that era, there was an inherent tension between the two types of sustenance, that is much deeper (societally and culturally) than today.

If you enjoy that, you could look up other https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flyting & https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_debate_poetry to read. There are also fun prose debates like the Islamic "The Case of the Animals versus Man Before the King of the Jinn".

Also the Lis Consonantium, in which the letter sigma sues the letter tau:

https://lucianofsamosata.info/TrialInTheCourtOfVowels.html

Had a fun read on those links, thanks for sharing.

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