Position in chronology
Gudea 101add
Translation — scholar edition
ETCSRI(1) For Ninĝirsu, the powerful warrior of Enlil, his master, Gudea, ruler of Lagaš, built his E-ninnu-anzud-babbar, (and) set up a stela before it.
Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Royal Inscriptions — scholar edition (Vienna).
Why it matters
Records Gudea of Lagaš's construction of the E-ninnu temple for Ninĝirsu and the erection of a commemorative stela — evidence of the votive building programs through which Lagašite rulers articulated divine patronage.
Scholarly note
Sumerian royal inscription, published in the Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Royal Inscriptions (ETCSRI) by Gábor Zólyomi and collaborators. Translation reproduced from the ETCSRI edition. ORACC text Q003228.
Attribution
Image: JRL 1091 (John Rylands Library, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK) — from Girsu (mod. Tello) ? — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P388525). source
Translation excerpted from Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Royal Inscriptions (ETCSRI), University of Vienna, edited by Gábor Zólyomi et al. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/etcsri/Q003228/.
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.