Position in chronology
PPAC 4, 153
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P332072.
Transliteration
3(disz) udu niga en-lil2 3(disz) udu niga nin-lil2 nansze-GIR2@g-gal maszkim 3(u) 5(disz) udu 1(u) 1(disz) u8 1(u) 4(disz) masz2 szu-gid2 e2 muhaldim mu aga3-us2-e-ne-sze3 ARAD2-mu maszkim iti u4 2(u) 3(disz) ba-zal ki na-lu5-ta ba-zi iti ezem-szul-gi mu amar-suen lugal
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — PPAC 4, 153. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format). [year-name] Dated to Amar-Suen y1 — Amar-Suen became king based on canonical year-name formula in the transliteration.
Attribution
Image: Couvent Sainte-Anne, Jerusalem (P332072) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P332072..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.