Position in chronology
En-anatum I 15
Translation — scholar edition
ETCSRI(i 1) For Lugal-Uruba, Ama-ušumgal-ana. (i 3) When En-ana-tum, ruler of Lagaš, chosen by Nanše in the heart, chief governor of Ninĝirsu, the child born to Lugal-Uruba, the child of Aya-kurgal, ruler of Lagaš, the beloved brother of E-ana-tum, ruler of Lagaš, built the Ebgal for Inana, made the E-ana exceed all the mountains, (then) Me-ane-dug, child of En-ana-tum, ruler of Lagaš, fashioned his (own) statue, and brought it before Lugal-Uruba in the temple. (ii 9) May it pay obeisance to Lugal-Uruba in the great temple of Urub for the well-being of his father, En-ana-tum, for the well-being of his mother, Aya-šurmen, and for his own well-being.
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 Q001083.
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/Q001083/.
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.