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Story of Ahikar

Papyrus narrating the story of the wise chancellor Ahiqar. Aramaic script. 5th century BCE. From Elephantine, Egypt. Neues Museum, Berline The ''Story of Aḥiqar'', also known as the ''Words of Aḥiqar'', is a story first attested to in Imperial Aramaic from the fifth century BCE on papyri from Elephantine, Egypt, that circulated widely in the Middle and the Near East. It has been characterised as "one of the earliest 'international books' of world literature".

The principal character, Aḥiqar, might have been a chancellor to the Assyrian Kings Sennacherib and Esarhaddon. Only a Late Babylonian cuneiform tablet from Uruk (Warka) mentions an Aramaic name ''Aḫu’aqār''. His name is written in Imperial Aramaic and in Syriac and is transliterated as Aḥiqar, Arabic (Ḥayqār), Greek Achiacharos, and Slavonic Akyrios, with variants on that theme such as Armenian (''Xikar'') and Ottoman Turkish Khikar, a sage known in the ancient Near East for his outstanding wisdom.

It is known as TAD C1.1, and catalogued as Berlin P. 13446A-H, K-L (Egyptian Museum of Berlin) and Pap. No. 3465 = J. 43502 (Egyptian Museum of Cairo). Provided by Wikipedia
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    Aramaic papyri of the fifth century B.C by Cowley, Arthur Ernest, 1861-1931

    Published 1923
    Other Authors: “…Ahikar…”
    Livre

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