A multi-national team of linguists and historians has successfully deciphered a series of clay tablets from the ancient city of Susa, in modern-day Iran. The tablets, written in Elamite cuneiform, contain a philosophical dialogue between a sage and a king concerning the nature of Kizzuwatna, or the 'Divine Order' that governs the movement of stars and the justice of men.
The text is remarkable for its proto-logical structure, using syllogisms to argue that human law is a reflection of celestial harmony. This Elamite philosophy suggests a high degree of intellectual exchange between the Iranian plateau and the Vedic societies of the Indus Valley. The discovery pushes back the timeline for the development of formal metaphysical inquiry in the Near East and highlights a shared ancient heritage of seeking moral laws within the physical structure of the universe.