Position in chronology
Syracuse 335
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P130886.
Transliteration
1(disz) asz2-gar3 niga en-lil2 mu-kux(DU) nir-i3-da-gal2 1(disz) masz2-gal niga en-lil2 1(disz) masz2-gal niga nin-lil2 mu-kux(DU) s,e-lu-usz-da-gan zabar-dab5 maszkim u4 2(u)-kam ki ab-ba-sa6-ga-ta ba-zi iti ki-siki-nin-a-zu mu amar-suen lugal ur-bi2-lum mu-hul 3(disz)
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — Syracuse 335. 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: Syracuse University Library, Syracuse, New York, USA (P130886) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P130886..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.