Position in chronology
MVN 05, 038
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P114258.
Transliteration
1(disz) ama-kal-la dumu ka-ku3 1(disz) szu-hal-bi dumu a-gi-gi iti <sze>-sag11-ku5-ta iti dumu-zi-sze3 a-ga-am e2-masz-sze3 ki ur-nin-tu-ta kiszib3 dingir-ra-ka mu en-unu6-gal an-na dingir-ra dub-sar dumu lu2-ga
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — MVN 05, 038. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: private: anonymous, unlocated (P114258) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P114258..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.