Position in chronology
Gudea Statue R
Translation — scholar edition
ETCSRI(i 1) After having built Ninĝirsu's E-ninnu, Gudea, ruler of Lagaš, Ninĝirsu's true shepherd of reliable words, who (always) perfoms the rituals of the gods correctly, exempted Namḫani, the chief lamentation singer of the E-munus-gisa. from anyone entering his house (with claims for) for silver, bronze, corvée labour, (or) whatever property he has. In that year (Gudea) assigned an area of 6 bur ... field to him. (iii 2) .... He set it up for her in the E-munus-gisa on the appointed day. The name of this statue is "Gudea gave it to me."
Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Royal Inscriptions — scholar edition (Vienna).
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 Q001556.
Attribution
Image: .
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/Q001556/.
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.