Position in chronology
Atiqot 4, pl. 26 64
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P102827.
Transliteration
6(asz) gig gur mu gig-sze3 ki ba-mu-ka tur-am-i3-li2 lu2 ba-mu szu ba-ti mu mu us2-sa bad3 ba-du3-sze3 mu e2 puzur4-da-gan ba-du3 szu ba-ti
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — Atiqot 4, pl. 26 64. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: The Israel Museum, Jerusalem (P102827) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P102827..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.