Position in chronology
DCS 058
Translation · reference
ExperimentalSource: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P109143.
Why it matters
Transliteration
4(u) 3(asz) 3(barig) zi3 gu gur lugal ma2 ur-nin-gesz-zi-da ugula ur-szu-ga-lam-ma szabra nibru-sze3 giri3 na-a szesz lugal-sa6-ga iti gu4-ra2-bi2-mu2-mu2
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Lagash II (ca. 2200-2100 BC)) — DCS 058. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Bibliothèque Nationale et Universitaire de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France (P109143) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P109143..
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Related sources
One of the earliest specimens of human writing. Not literature, not law — accounting. The need to keep track of grain in a temple bureaucracy is what pushed marks-on-clay into a system that could one day carry epics.
Marks the boundary between proto-writing and writing. We can see signs being used systematically — but not yet phonetically. The leap to recording speech itself comes a few centuries later.
The earliest historical document in human history. Before this, we have lists, accounts, and dedications. Here, for the first time, a ruler tells us what happened — with names, places, and consequences.