Position in chronology
MVN 03, 120
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P113680.
Transliteration
2(barig) 2(ban2) 4(disz) sila3 sze lugal 1(barig) 1(ban2) 2(disz) sila3 ziz2# in-x-na munu4-sze3 ezem pa4-u2-e ki ur-li9-si4-ta la-a-mu szu ba-[ti] iti pa4-u2-e mu a-ra2 2(disz)-kam kar2-har ba-hul lu2-nin-szubur dub-sar dumu du10-ga szabra
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — MVN 03, 120. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Free Library of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA (P113680) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P113680..
Related tablets
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.