Position in chronology
RA 023, 036-037 4
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P200560.
Transliteration
[szul-gi] [nita kal-ga] [lugal uri5-ma] [lugal an-ub-da limmu2-ba-ke4] s,e-lu-usz-da-gan ensi2 si-mu-ru-um#-[ma] ARAD2-da-ni-[ir] in-na-[ba]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — RA 023, 036-037 4. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: private: anonymous, New York, New York, USA (P200560) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P200560..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.