Position in chronology
CUSAS 39, 212
Translation · reference
ExperimentalSource: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P253928.
Why it matters
Transliteration
1(disz) dag a-ra2 1(disz)-kam 4(disz) a-ra2 2(disz)-kam 1(disz) a-ra2 3(disz)-kam 3(disz) a-ra2 4(disz)-kam 2(disz) a-ra2 5(disz)-kam 1(disz)# a-ra2 6(disz)-kam 1(disz) a-ra2 7(disz)-kam 1(disz) a-ra2 8(disz)-kam 2(disz) a-ra2 1(u) la2 1(disz@t)-kam 1(disz) a-ra2 1(u)-kam i3 nar-nita2 ki szesz-szesz gal2-la iti sze-sag11-ku5# mu us2-sa i-bi2-suen lugal
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — CUSAS 39, 212. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format). [year-name] Dated to Ibbi-Suen y2 — Year after: Ibbi-Suen became king based on canonical year-name formula in the transliteration.
Attribution
Image: Schøyen Collection, Oslo, Norway (P253928) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P253928..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.