Position in chronology
Fs Lenoble 161, no. 05
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P387628.
Transliteration
1(u) 3(asz) gu2 ma-nu 1(asz) gu2 gi ki szesz-a-ni-ta lugal-ezem szu ba-ti sza3 bala lugal-ezem dub-sar dumu [lugal-e2-mah-e] szabra
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — Fs Lenoble 161, no. 05. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: American University of Beirut Archaeological Museum, Beirut, Lebanon (P387628) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P387628..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.