Position in chronology
USC 6791
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P235602.
Transliteration
3(disz) sila3 esza 3(disz) sila3 zi3 dub-dub 3(disz) sila3 dabin sa-a ki lu2-bala-saga-ta kiszib3 ensi2-ka [iti sig4]-i3-szub-ba-gar# [mu] us2#-sa# szu-suen [...] lugal#-e# [...] mar#-tu mu#-du3#-a mu us2-sa-bi szu-suen lugal kal-ga lugal uri5-ma lugal an-ub-da limmu2-ba a-a-kal-la ensi2 umma ARAD2-zu
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — USC 6791. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Archaeological Research Collection, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA (P235602) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P235602..
Related tablets
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.