Position in chronology
DP 293
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P220943.
Transliteration
1(gesz2@c) 4(u@c) gir mun 6(gesz2@c) 2(u@c) 4(asz@c) agargara mun 4(gesz'u@c) la2 2(gesz2@c) sumasz ku6 ab su-ga-kam iti ezem munu4 gu7 nin-gir2-su-ka-ka szu-ku6 ab-ba-ke4-ne mu-de6 a2 e3-e3-de3 en-na-u4-mu lu2 igi-nigin2-ra en-ig-gal nu-banda3 e-na-szid 2(|ASZxDISZ@t|)
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340 BC)) — DP 293. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P220943) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P220943..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.