Position in chronology
MVN 13, 513
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P117286.
Transliteration
2(disz) ab2-mah2 [x] gu4 mu 2(asz) 5(disz) dusu2-nita2 8(disz) udu-nita2 2(u) 4(disz) u8 3(disz) masz2-nita2 4(u) 7(disz) ud5 szu-gid2 gu4 udu ta2-din-esz18-dar ki ur-suen dumu lugal-ka-ta mu-kux(DU) na-sa6 i3-dab5 iti ezem-nin-a-zu mu ki-masz u3 hu-ur5-ti ba-hul
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — MVN 13, 513. 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 (P117286) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P117286..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.