Position in chronology
DP 147
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P220797.
Transliteration
2(u@c) 2(asz@c) 2(barig@c) ziz2 babbar2 gur saggal sa2-du11 iti 2(disz@t)-kam amar-giri16 2(u@c) ziz2 sa2-du11 kas ge6 iti 1(disz@t)-a-ka ki-ba gar-ra-am6 i3-li2-be6-li2 lu2 lungax(|BIxNIG2|)-me en-szu-gi4-gi4 agrig-ge ganun igi-zi-mu-sze3-bar-ta e-ne-ta-gar 6(|ASZxDISZ@t|) 3(disz@t) gar-am6
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340 BC)) — DP 147. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P220797) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P220797..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.