Position in chronology
MCS 6, 078 AO 19775
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P112825.
Transliteration
2/3(disz) ma-na 4(disz) [gin2 ku3-babbar] masz a-sza3-sze3 a-sza3 a-pi4-sal4[] giri3 lu2-ha-[ia3] 7(disz) 5/6(disz) gin2 2(u) 2(disz) 1/2(disz) [sze] ku3 masz
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — MCS 6, 078 AO 19775. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P112825) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P112825..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.