Position in chronology
AnOr 07, 314
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P101609.
Transliteration
1(gesz2) 2(u) 6(disz) sa gi e2-masz kux(KWU147)-ra 1(u) gurusz u4 2(disz)-sze3 kar-ta e2-masz-sze3 pa-ku5 asalx(|A.TU.NIR|) ga6-ga2 ugula e2-gal-e-si [kiszib3 szara2]-kam [mu ma-da za]-ab#-[sza-li ba]-hul# szara2-kam dub-sar dumu lugal-kiri6
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — AnOr 07, 314. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Montserrat Museum, Barcelona, Spain (P101609) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P101609..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.