Position in chronology
En-metena 07
Translation — scholar edition
ETCSRI(1) For Ninĝirsu, Enlil’s warrior. (3) En-metena, ruler of Lagaš, chosen by Nanše in the heart, chief governor of Ninĝirsu, child of En-ana-tum, ruler of Lagaš, fashioned a gurgur vessel of purified silver for Ninĝirsu, his master who loves him, from which Ninĝirsu consumes the monthly oil (offering). He displayed it for his well-being for Ninĝirsu of the E-ninnu. (21) At that time Dudu was the temple administrator of Ninĝirsu.
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 Q001107.
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/Q001107/.
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.