Position in chronology
NMSA 3864
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P342028.
Transliteration
2(asz) 2(barig) sze gur lugal sze gurx(|SZE.KIN|)-gurx(|SZE.KIN|)-da 1(asz) im#-du8# ak#-da# a-sza3 la2-mah-ta ki ARAD2-ta a-kal-la dumu# nig2-du10-ga-mu szu ba-ti kiszib3 nu-ra-a iti dumu-zi mu en nanna masz-e i3-pa3
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — NMSA 3864. 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 (P342028) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P342028..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.