Position in chronology
NMSA 3575
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P341920.
Transliteration
1(disz) [...] 1(disz) nig2-luh#? 1(disz) a-la2? 1(disz) hu-ru-bu-um 1(disz) HAR x-ba 1(disz) PA 3(disz) tug2 ha-bu-um 4(disz)# tug2 guz-[za] 5(disz)# masz2-gal 2(u) ma-nu 2(disz) KU x 1(disz) gesz la 2(disz) gesz gu-za saga 1(disz) gesz# za3#? bi usz2
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — NMSA 3575. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: National Museum of Syria, Aleppo, Syria (P341920) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P341920..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.