Position in chronology
NYPL 066
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P122602.
Transliteration
1(asz) 1(barig) sze gur lugal ki u2-sza-ak-ki-il ur-szu-ga-lam-ma szu ba-an-ti kiszib3 a2-bi2-lum-ma u3 lu2-suen iti ezem-nin-a-zu mu ma2-gur8-mah ba-dim2 a2-bi2-lum-ma dumu a-hu-du10 [...] lu2-suen dumu ur-sa6-ga sipa gu4 [niga]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — NYPL 066. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: New York Public Library, New York, New York, USA (P122602) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P122602..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.