Position in chronology
HLC 189 (pl. 105)
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P110064.
Transliteration
1(asz) 1(barig) sze gur lugal ki ur-e2-ninnu dumu du-du-ta 1(barig) sze ki nin-mar a-igi-du8-ta 1(asz) 4(ban2) ki ur-nin-gesz-zi-da dumu engar-du10 3(disz) gin2 ku3-babbar ki ur-ig-alim dumu ur-sa6-sa6 igi-6(disz)-gal2 la2 2(disz) sze ku3 ki ur-lamma dumu ur-mes-ta ni2-e tak4-a
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — HLC 189 (pl. 105). 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 (P110064) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P110064..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.