Position in chronology
Aegyptus 19, 236 04
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P100226.
Transliteration
4(disz) udu-nita2 3(disz) u8 1(disz) kir11 ASZ-ur4 iti ezem-nin-a-zu 1(disz) ud5 1(disz) kir11 ASZ-ur4 2(disz) udu-nita2 4(disz) masz2-gal iti a2-ki-ti sa2-du11 be-la-at-suh-ner be-la-at-dar-ra-ba-an an-nu-ni-tum u3 ul-ma-szi-tum mu e2 puzur4-isz-[]da-[gan] ba-du3
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — Aegyptus 19, 236 04. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Museo di Antichità di Torino, Turin, Italy (P100226) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P100226..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.