Position in chronology
HLC 065 (pl. 023)
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P109943.
Transliteration
2(u) la2 1(disz) gurusz 1(barig) sze lugal-ta sze-bi 5(asz) 4(barig) gur sze ur5-ra aga3-us2 ensi2-me i3-dub e2 en-ki-ta sze-numun ur-da-mu-ta kiszib3 lugal-pa-e3 iti mu-szu-du7 mu ha-ar-szi ki-masz ba-hul lugal-[pa-e3] dumu […]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — HLC 065 (pl. 023). No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA (P109943) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P109943..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.