"The question "Why do bad things happen to good people?" has been asked for millennia, probably since before writing was invented, but at least since circa 1700 BCE when the Sumerian (and later Babylonian) poem, Ludlul-Bel-Nemeqi (also known as The Poem of the Righteous Sufferer) was written and, later, the book of Job, dated to the 7th, 6th, or 4th centuries BCE."
"These works deal with individual suffering, but a genre of literature emerged in Mesopotamia c. 2000 BCE dealing with the suffering of multitudes when their city fell, and, as far as they could tell, the only reason for its destruction was the will of the gods. These pieces are known as city laments, and the genre may have been quite popular, even though only a small number of the works have survived. Among the most complete are:"
"The works now known as city laments all share a common theme and focus but may differ in detail, as noted by scholar Jeremy Black: Although formally heterogeneous, [city laments] share some fundamental themes: destruction as a result of divine decision, abandonment of the city by the tutelary god, restoration, and return of the tutelary god. City laments may vary widely in the emphasis given to these themes."
The question why good people suffer appears in ancient Mesopotamian and Hebrew literature, including the Sumerian poem Ludlul-Bel-Nemeqi and the book of Job. A distinct Mesopotamian genre emerged around 2000 BCE—city laments—that portray the suffering of entire populations after a city's fall and attribute destruction to the gods' will. City laments commonly present destruction as divine decision, abandonment by the city's tutelary god, and eventual restoration with the deity's return. The Curse of Agade relates thematically but aligns more with naru (historical-fiction) literature, which fictionalizes known historical figures. Few laments survive, though the genre may once have been widespread.
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