Position in chronology
MVN 20, 034
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P142967.
Transliteration
1(barig) 3(ban2) 7(disz) szum2 gaz# 2(gesz'u) 4(gesz2) murgu2 pesz 1(szar2) 4(gesz2) 3(u) pa geszimmar 2(u) e2-dim 1(u) ka-mun 2(barig) 5(ban2) su UR2@g? 2(u) 3(disz) ba-an du8-du8 2(asz) gu2 1(u) la2 1(disz) ma-na mangaga ki szandana-ke4-ne-ta la-ni-mu szu ba-ti mu ki-masz ba-hul
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — MVN 20, 034. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation (P142967) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P142967..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.