Position in chronology
MVN 18, 736
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P120097.
Transliteration
[...] 1(disz) gu4 [...] 1(disz) gu4 lu2-nin-gir2#?-[su?] ugula lu2-szul-[...] 1(disz) ansze ARAD2-mu 1(disz) ansze ur-ig?-[alim?] 1(disz) gu4 x lugal-[...]-x 1(disz) gu4 er3-ra?-dingir ugula ur-utu 1(disz) gu4? ur-ki-gu-la [...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — MVN 18, 736. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Montserrat Museum, Barcelona, Spain (P120097) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P120097..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.