Position in chronology
Kress 294
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P514392.
Transliteration
1(asz) 1(barig) 3(ban2) sze gur lugal sza3-gal gaszam ki lu2-kal-la-ta lu2-nin-gir2-su szu ba-ti mu en eridu [1(asz) 1(barig) 3(ban2)] sze# gur# lugal# [sza3-gal] gaszam [ki] lu2#-kal-la-ta kiszib3 lu2-nin-gir2-su lu2-nin-gir2-su dub-sar dumu x-[...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — Kress 294. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: private: anonymous, Germany (P514392) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P514392..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.