Position in chronology
E-anatum 01 (RIME 1.09.03.01 (Vulture Stele) composite)
Translation — scholar edition
ETCSRI(o i 21) ... payed its interest-bearing loan, but took its barley rental. The king of Lagaš .... (o ii 23) Because of ..., the leader of Umma acted belligerently against it and defied Lagaš. Aya-kurgal, king of Lagaš, child of Ur-Nanše, .... (o iii 18) ... and he too defied Lagaš because of its own property. (o iii 23) The ... lion of Ĝirnun's innermost part, Ninĝirsu, let his voice out ...: "Umma ... my forage, my own property in the field of Gu-edena ... Lagaš .... Ninĝirsu, Enlil's warrior ....". (o iv 9) ... Ninĝirsu begot E-ana-tum. ... took delight in him. Inana took him with her, and…
Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Royal Inscriptions — scholar edition (Vienna).
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 Q001056.
Attribution
Image: .
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/Q001056/.
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.