ABSTRACT This essay will demonstrate how both the cultural and temporal antecedents of classical rhetoric are linked to Mesopotamian writing by their shared use of similes, such as fable, aenigma, and parable as pardeigmae. Mesopotamian myths employed allegory and aenigma to advance a cultural argument that intersects with common theoretical topics in ancient rhetoric through analogical reasoning. Finally, this essay will introduce this obscure but highly relevant source of rhetorical thinking from Mesopotamia and their culturally transmitted theories in a neglected primary source, Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta. This brief epic shares similar philosophical ground with ancient Greco-Roman rhetoric, and addresses rhetoric’s fundamental nature at a much earlier point in history than accounted for in existing histories of classical rhetoric.

中文翻译：

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从阳光到阴影再回来：恩默卡和阿拉塔之王以及类比推理在美索不达米亚修辞中的作用

摘要 本文将展示古典修辞学的文化和时间前因如何通过共同使用明喻（例如寓言、谜团和寓言作为 pardeigmae）与美索不达米亚写作联系起来。美索不达米亚神话使用寓言和谜团来推进文化论证，通过类比推理与古代修辞学中的常见理论主题相交。最后，本文将介绍美索不达米亚这个晦涩但高度相关的修辞思想来源，以及他们在一个被忽视的主要来源 Enmerkar 和阿拉塔之王的文化传播理论。这部简短的史诗与古希腊罗马修辞学有着相似的哲学基础，并且在比现有古典修辞学历史更早的历史点上论述了修辞学的基本性质。