Position in chronology
E-anatum 09
Translation — scholar edition
ETCSRI(i 1) E-ana-tum, ruler of Lagaš, given strength by Enlil, nourished on rich milk by Ninhursaĝa, whose name was proclaimed by Ninĝirsu, chosen by Nanše in the heart, child of Aya-kurgal, ruler of Lagaš, defeated the highlands of Elam. He defeated Arawa. He defeated Umma. He defeated Urim. (ii 12) At that time, he built a well of fired brick for Ninĝirsu in his courtyard and then Ninĝirsu was pleased by him, whose is personal god is Šul-MUŠxPA, by E-ana-tum.
Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Royal Inscriptions — scholar edition (Vienna).
Why it matters
Enumerates E-anatum's conquests — Elam, Arawa, Umma, Ur — and his temple-building for Ninĝirsu, anchoring the chronology of Early Dynastic Lagašite expansion roughly a generation before the Stele of the Vultures.
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 Q001063.
Attribution
Image: BM 085979 (British Museum, London, UK) — from Girsu (mod. Tello) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P222424). 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/Q001063/.
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.