Position in chronology
MSL 11, 112 Z
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P229361.
Transliteration
gesztin gesztin zug2 gesztin ka5-a gesztin-gam-ma gesztin sur-ra gesztin al-szeg6-ga2 gesztin igi zag3-ga2 gesztin e3-a a gesztin-na ga-ra-an ga-ra-an haszhur ga-ra-an pesz3!(MA@g) ga-ra-an nu-ur2#-ma ga#-ra#-an# szennur# szu-gur5
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Babylonian (ca. 1900-1600 BC)) — MSL 11, 112 Z. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA (P229361) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P229361..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.