Position in chronology
Anonymous Uruk 1 (FAOS 05/2, AnUruk 01)
Written in modern English
After the goddess Ninimma spoke to Aya-diĝirĝu and filled him with awe, he and his mother Kumtuše dedicated a statue to the god Ninšubur. Aya-diĝirĝu is identified as the father of Aka and as temple administrator of the sun-god Utu.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — scholar edition
ETCSRI(1) After Ninimma filled (Aya-diĝirĝu) with awe by addressing him, Aya-diĝirĝu, father of Aka, the temple administrator of Utu, and Kumtuše, mother of Aya-diĝirĝu, dedicated (this statue) to Ninšubur.
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 Q001383.
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/Q001383/.
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.