Position in chronology
Nisaba 25, 63
Translation · reference
ExperimentalSource: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P449050.
Why it matters
Transliteration
3(N01@f)# [...] 2(N01@f) , ensix(|PA.SI|)-uri5 2(N14@f) 5(N01@f) , lu2-dugin2 8(N01@f)#? , nin [n] 2(N01@f)# , amar-e2 NIG2# nam#? 3(N14@f) , ensix(|PA.SI|)-|UET2_161b+KI|#? 1(N14@f) 2(N01@f) , ensix(|PA.SI|)#-uri5# 1(N14@f) , munus-alan#-ak IL2 2(N34@f) 3(N14@f) 5(N01@f) , GAN2# du3 APIN ISZ# [...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED I-II (ca. 2900-2700 BC)) — Nisaba 25, 63. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: British Museum, London, UK (P449050) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P449050..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.