Position in chronology
CDLJ 2009/6 §1
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P388399.
Transliteration
3(disz) gurusz# ugula# lugal#-giri17-zal 2(disz) gurusz# ugula# lu2#-saga 1(u) 2(disz) gurusz# ugula# lu2#-da-ia3 1(u) 6(disz)# gurusz# ugula# ur#-gigir 1(u) 1(disz) gurusz ugula lugal#-[ma2]-gur8-[re] gub-ba-am3 sza3 bala-a iti li9-si4 mu sza-asz-ru-um ba-hul
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — CDLJ 2009/6 §1. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: private: Gayle Corenbaum, Salem, Oregon, USA (P388399) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P388399..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.