Position in chronology
OTR 083
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P123018.
Transliteration
2(gesz'u) 8(gesz2) 2(u) 7(asz) sze gur lugal x [...] ri [...] gen-na ki lu2#-[dingir]-ra szabra ur-ezem-ma mu zabar-dab5#-[sze3] szu ba-ti bala ezem-mah un-su gi4-gi4-de3!?(BA) mu lugal-bi i3-pa3 mu en-mah-gal-an-na en nanna <<ki>> ba-hun
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — OTR 083. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Columbia University Library, New York, New York, USA (P123018) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P123018..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.