Position in chronology
Nisaba 25, 32
Translation · reference
ExperimentalSource: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P449019.
Why it matters
Transliteration
[1(N01@f) , ...] SZIM# [1(N01@f) , ...] [1(N01@f)] , amar-sar# [1(N01@f)] , ur-[...] [1(N01@f)] , nannax(|SZESZ.NA|)#-szul#? 1(N01@f) , DU8 SZU [SILA3?] 1(N01@f) [...]-nirahx(UET2_153)#? 1(N01@f) , ama-IGI-BUR 1(N01@f) , ba-za7 1(N01@f) , amar-ib [1(N01@f)] , nannax(|SZESZ.NA|)#-[...] 1(N01@f) [...] PA 1(N01@f) , x [...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED I-II (ca. 2900-2700 BC)) — Nisaba 25, 32. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: British Museum, London, UK (P449019) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P449019..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.