Position in chronology
OTR 093
Translation · reference
ExperimentalSource: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P123028.
Why it matters
Transliteration
2(u) 5(disz) ma-na siki# e2-udu e2-gal-ta 2(u) 6(disz) ma-na siki la2-ia3 su-ga sipa didli 4(u) ma-na e2-nigar-ta giri3 ur-sa6-ga 1(asz) gu2 2(u) ma-na siki [ki] nig2-gur11 dam-[gar3-ta] giri3 ur-ab-ba ma2 lugal-sze3 ur-ba-ba6 egi#?-zi#? szu ba-ti mu gu-za en-lil2-la2 ba-dim2
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — OTR 093. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format). [year-name] Dated to Ur-Nammu y14 — The throne of Enlil was fashioned based on canonical year-name formula in the transliteration.
Attribution
Image: Columbia University Library, New York, New York, USA (P123028) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P123028..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.