Position in chronology
ViOr 8/1, 091
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P142033.
Transliteration
8(asz) gu2 1(u) 4(disz) ma-na siki-ud5 2(barig) 3(ban2) 2(disz) 5/6(disz) sila3 i3-nun 4(barig) 1(ban2) 5(disz) sila3 ga-UD@g ki kas4-ta ur-szul-pa-e3 szu ba-ti mu us2-sa ki-masz ba-hul
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — ViOr 8/1, 091. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Università Pontificia Salesiana, Rome, Italy (P142033) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P142033..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.