Position in chronology
ViOr 8/1, 046
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P141988.
Transliteration
3(ban2) sze zi3-da lugal ki szesz-kal-la-ta kiszib3 ur-dingir-ra iti diri mu us2-sa mu us2-sa-a-bi [...] dumu gesz-[...] ur-x [...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — ViOr 8/1, 046. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Università Pontificia Salesiana, Rome, Italy (P141988) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P141988..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.