Position in chronology
AnOr 07, 067
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P101362.
Transliteration
2(disz) udu niga an-nu-ni-tum 1(disz) masz2-gal ul-ma-szi-tum 2(disz) masz2-gal be-la-at-suh-ner u3 be-la-at-dar-ra-ba-an e3-lu-num2 sza3 uri5-ma giri3 ma-szum iti-ta u4 2(u) ba-ra-zal 1(disz) sila4 ba-usz2 e2-gal ba-an-kux(KWU147) zi-ga a2-bi2-li2-a iti ses-da-gu7 mu us2-sa e2 puzur4-isz-da-gan ba-du3 mu us2-sa-bi
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — AnOr 07, 067. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Montserrat Museum, Barcelona, Spain (P101362) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P101362..
Related tablets
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.