Position in chronology
Ur-Bau 05
Translation — scholar edition
ETCSRI(i 1) For Ninĝirsu, the powerful warrior of Enlil, my master, I, Ur-Bau, ruler of Lagaš, the child born to Ninagala, chosen by Nanše in the heart, given strength by Ninĝirsu, called by a propitious name by Bau, given wisdom by Enki, who submits to the orders of Inana, the beloved slave of Lugal-Uruba, the beloved of Dumuzid-abzu, dug a pit ... kuš (deep). I sifted its earth as if (I were searching for) gems, carried around fire as if it were (to be made ritually) pure. I had (the temple) stand wide like a bull. I returned the earth into (the pit), constructed its ... foundation pit. On it I…
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 Q001466.
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/Q001466/.
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.