Position in chronology
AAICAB 1/1, pl. 051, 1912-1149
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P142771.
Transliteration
2(asz) sze gur lugal ur-szara2 1(asz) 4(barig) gur igi-szara2#-sze3 e2 lugal-kiri6-ta 1(barig) sze lugal e2-kikken-ta igi-dingir-sze3 sze-ba za3-mu mu dumu-lugal ensi2 an-sza-an-ke4 ba-an-tuku-a
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — AAICAB 1/1, pl. 051, 1912-1149. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, UK (P142771) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P142771..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.