Position in chronology
TMH 05, 163
Translation · reference
ExperimentalSource: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P020577.
Why it matters
Transliteration
[x] udu-nita i3-li2-be6-li2 ugula-iri 1(asz@c) asz2-gar3 dam-e2-gal2 e2-|SZE+KU| 1(asz@c) sila4-nita a-ba-en-lil2 azlag4 masz2-da-re-a iti gan-gan-<<MU>>-e3-kam
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340 BC)) — TMH 05, 163. 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 (P020577) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P020577..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.