Position in chronology
MVN 05, 089
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P114309.
Transliteration
1(disz) kasz dida 5(disz) sila3 kasz saga 1/2(disz) ninda 4(disz) gin2 i3 2(disz) gin2 naga 3(disz) ku6 3(disz) sa! szum2! i3-li2-ma-a-zu gaba-asz 3(disz) sila3 kasz 4(disz) sila3 ninda 2(disz) gin2 i3 4(disz) gin2 naga 1(disz) ku6! 1(disz) sa szum2! u-bar u4 7(disz)-kam iti min-esz3
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — MVN 05, 089. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: private: anonymous, unlocated (P114309) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P114309..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.