Position in chronology
OTR 088
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P123023.
Transliteration
1(disz) dug dida saga 1(ban2) zi3 sig15 1(ban2) zi3-gu 3(disz) sila3 zi3 dub-dub 2(disz) sila3 esza e2 iszkur-sze3 2(disz) dug dida saga 1(ban2) zi3 sig15 1(ban2) zi3-gu 1(ban2) zi3 dub-dub 5(disz) sila3 esza an-ta-sur-ra-sze3 ga-gu7 e3-a zi-ga iti sze-il2-la
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — OTR 088. 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 (P123023) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P123023..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.