Position in chronology
Lugal-kigine-dudu 2
Translation — scholar edition
ETCSRI(1) For An, king of all lands, and Inana, lady of the E-ana, Lugal-kiĝeneš-dudu, king of Kiš. (5) After Inana combined the title of en and the title of king for Lugal-kiĝeneš-dudu, he ruled as en in Unug, while he ruled as king in Urim. (15) When Inana blessed Lugal-kiĝeneš-dudu, Lugal-kiĝeneš-dudu dedicated this (vessel) to Inana, his lady 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 Q001370.
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/Q001370/.
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.