Position in chronology
SA 086
Translation · reference
ExperimentalSource: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P128722.
Why it matters
Transliteration
8(asz) gu2 nig2-u3-ba a2-bi u4 8(disz)-kam ki lugal-gigir-re-ta kiszib3 nam-sza3-tam ur-szul-pa-e3 [...] kux(KWU147)-ra mu amar-suen lugal ur-szul-pa-e3 dub-sar dumu lugal-ku3-ga-ni
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — SA 086. 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: Institut Catholique, Paris, France ? (P128722) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P128722..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.