Position in chronology
TMH 05, 042
Translation · reference
ExperimentalSource: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P020456.
Why it matters
Transliteration
2(barig@c) ur-en-lil2 2(barig@c) ur-szubur [x] AN-ni2-ni [x] lugal-en-nu 1(asz@c) dumu-ni 2(ban2@c) 1(barig@c) nin-e2-na 1(asz@c) dumu-ni 2(ban2@c) 1(barig@c) nam-ma 1(barig@c) nin-x-a 1(gesz2@c) 1(asz@c) nin-hi-li 2(gesz2@c) 2(asz@c) nin-ku4 sa2-du11
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340 BC)) — TMH 05, 042. 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 (P020456) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P020456..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.