Position in chronology
Nisaba 25, 55
Translation · reference
ExperimentalSource: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P449042.
Why it matters
Transliteration
2(N01@f)# , gi amar-abzu 7(N01@f) , utu-ur-sag 5(N01@f) , sag#-aya2-da [...] SAG#? DA 9(N01@f) , pa-bilx(|NE.PAP.UET2_377|)-ga 2(N01@f) , szubur!-la PA-A 1(N14@f) 2(N01@f) , en-abzu-si x A KA2 GIR DIM3 DIM3 A A? KA2 SAL KA2
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED I-II (ca. 2900-2700 BC)) — Nisaba 25, 55. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: British Museum, London, UK (P449042) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P449042..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.