Position in chronology
AnOr 07, 069
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P101364.
Transliteration
1(disz) udu niga ka ge6-par4 1(disz) udu niga na-na-a 2(disz) udu niga 1(disz) sila4 ka esz3 giri3 nin-ga2 iti-ta u4 2(disz) ba-ra-zal zi-ga a2-bi2-li2-a iti ezem-szul-gi 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, 069. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Montserrat Museum, Barcelona, Spain (P101364) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P101364..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.