Position in chronology
MVN 21, 219
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P120456.
Transliteration
2(asz) sze gur lugal ur-gilgamesx(|BIL3.GA.MES|) 1(asz) 3(barig) i3-da-ga en-ki-szesz 1(asz) 3(barig) ur-nerah 1(asz) 3(barig) a-lu5 1(asz) 3(barig) u2-da-ku3-ta 1(asz) 3(barig) a-wi-na-har 1(asz) 3(barig) lugal-iti-da sze-ba za3-mu-ka du6 a-szar2-ta iti dal mu dumu#-lugal
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — MVN 21, 219. 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 (P120456) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P120456..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.