Position in chronology
MVN 15, 203
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P118483.
Transliteration
n 1(barig)# 5(ban2) 6(disz)# sila3 [...] sze gur a2 geme2 zi3 ar3#-[...] sa2-du11 u4-de3 gid2-da u3 na-ap-ta2-num2 nu-gu7#?-a mu ur-bi2-lum ba-hul 1(gesz2) 1(asz) 2(barig) 3(ban2) 8(disz) 1/3(disz) sila3 4(disz) gin2 sze gur sze-bi nig2 u4-de3 gid2-da u3 na-ap-ta2-num2 nu-gu7#-a 4(gesz2) 4(u) 2(asz) 1(barig) 3(ban2) 7(disz) sila3 duh du gur [sze]-bi 3(u) 1(asz)# 3(barig) 1(ban2) 2(disz) 5/6(disz) sila3 6(disz) gin2 gur mu ki#-masz ba-hul kiszib3-bi ki ki-tusz-lu2-ka mu-gal2 3(u) sze gur utu-GIR2@g-gal 5(asz) gur da-gi-mu mu ki-masz ba-hul
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — MVN 15, 203. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA (P118483) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P118483..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.