Position in chronology
MVN 13, 793
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P117566.
Transliteration
2(barig) 3(ban2) sze# lugal lugal-mas-su sipa 1(barig) lugal-ezem nar mu lugal-szara2 nar-sze3 3(asz) 2(barig) lugal-a2-zi-da szusz3 2(barig) lu2-szara2 dumu ur-am3-ma szunigin 4(asz) 2(barig) 3(ban2) sze gur sze ur5-ra mu-kux(DU) u4 <<1(u)>> 2(u) 1(disz)-kam iti nesag mu# us2-sa ki-masz mu us2-sa-a-bi
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — MVN 13, 793. 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 (P117566) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P117566..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.