Position in chronology
Nisaba 25, 54
Translation · reference
ExperimentalSource: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P449041.
Why it matters
Transliteration
1(N01@f) , |NINDA2xSZIM| ziz2 gaz2 u4 ezem gu7 szum2 ninda 1(N01@f) , AB SAR DU8 AN |GANxHI| KA GUR 1(N01@f) , TI SUR A AN |GANxHI| KA GUR 1(N01@f) , KA# GUR AN |GANxHI|# u4 nannax(|SZESZ.NA|)# TI KA UR gu7 szum2 ninda 2(N14@f) , AN |GANxHI|# GUR#! KA#? gu7 AN |GANxHI|#!
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED I-II (ca. 2900-2700 BC)) — Nisaba 25, 54. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: British Museum, London, UK (P449041) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P449041..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.