Position in chronology
AAICAB 1/2, pl. 149, 1971-380
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P248892.
Transliteration
2(barig) sze lugal sze-ba za3-mu ur-dumu-zi-da aga3-us2# ur-szara2 3(barig) sze-ba# za3-mu szesz-a-ni kasz a-gub-ba 3(barig)# sze-ba za3-mu dingir-kal aga3-us2 guzza-ni sze-ba za3-mu a-sza3 szara2-ta iti ezem pa5-u2-e mu dumu lugal
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — AAICAB 1/2, pl. 149, 1971-380. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, UK (P248892) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P248892..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.