Position in chronology
TMH 05, 008
Translation · reference
ExperimentalSource: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P020422.
Why it matters
Transliteration
1(asz@c) ur-sud3-da dumu al-sa6 1(asz@c) ur-iszkur dumu mu-ni-kalam-ma 1(asz@c) lugal-kar dumu lugal-iri-da 1(asz@c) lugal-ki-gal-la dumu e2-da-hul2 1(asz@c) ur-nam2-nun dumu nam-mah-ni lu2 szuruppak sa gaz i3-ak-me puzur4-ma-ma mu-[...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340 BC)) — TMH 05, 008. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Hilprecht Collection, University of Jena, Germany (P020422) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P020422..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.