Position in chronology
En-šakuš-Ana 1
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) To Enlil, king of all lands. (3) When the gods commanded him, En-šakuš-ana, lord of Sumer, king of the Land, conquered Kiš, and captured Enbi-Eštar, king of Kiš. The leader of Akšak and the leader Kiš ... the city that he also did conquer .... (1') He returned ... under their control, (but) he dedicated their statues, their precious metal and lapis lazuli, their timber and goods for Nibru to Enlil.
Source: Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Royal Inscriptions (ETCSRI), University of Vienna, edited by Gábor Zólyomi et al. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/etcsri/Q001362/
Why it matters
Records En-šakuš-ana's defeat and capture of Enbi-Eštar of Kiš, one of the earliest dated royal inscriptions to claim kingship over all Sumer — predating Sargon of Akkad by roughly two centuries.
Transliteration
Scholarly note
Sumerian royal inscription, published in the Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Royal Inscriptions (ETCSRI) by Gábor Zólyomi and collaborators. Translation reproduced from the ETCSRI edition. ORACC text Q001362.
Attribution
Image: CBS 09930 (University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA) — from Nippur (mod. Nuffar) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P222870). source
Translation excerpted from Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Royal Inscriptions (ETCSRI), University of Vienna, edited by Gábor Zólyomi et al. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/etcsri/Q001362/.
Related tablets
Related sources
The earliest historical document in human history.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.
The oldest surviving law code in human history. The principle that the state — not the wronged family — defines and enforces justice begins here.
Not the first law code, but the most complete and the most famous. Inscribed on a black diorite stele over two meters tall, displayed in a public place — law made visible, law made monumental.