Position in chronology
DP 340
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P220990.
Transliteration
1(barig@c) munu4 kas sig15 1(barig@c) munu4 kas ge6 mu-an-ne2-du10 esz3-kam 1(barig@c) 2(ban2@c) munu4 mes-an-du 4(ban2@c) munu4 e2 dingir-ra-kam 1(barig@c) 2(ban2@c) munu4 ki [utu-kam] munu4 nam-mah-ni mu-an-ne2-du10 lu2 lungax(|BIxNIG2|)-ra i3-[ni]-gu7# 2(|ASZxDISZ@t|)#?
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340 BC)) — DP 340. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P220990) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P220990..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.