Position in chronology
MVN 13, 135
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P116907.
Transliteration
u4 2(u) la2 1(disz) nu-ub-tuku u4 2(u) nu-ub-tuku u4 2(u) 1(disz) nu-ub-tuku 5(disz) sila3 kasz ge6 saga 5(disz) sila3 zi3-gu 2(disz) 1/2(disz) sila3 esza du6-ur2-sze3 2(ban2) kasz ge6 saga bala-bala-e-de3 1(barig) zi3-gu 3(ban2) esza 3(disz) sila3 zu2-lum esza-da ba-an-bala e2# nanna-sze3 a2-ge6-ba#-a# u4# [...] 1(u) 2(disz)-kam zi-ga# [siskur2] lugal iti ezem-an#-na mu dumu-munus lugal ensi2 za-ab-sza-li-ke4 ba-an-<<ba>>-tuku
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — MVN 13, 135. 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 (P116907) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P116907..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.