Position in chronology
Sumu-El 2
Translation — scholar edition
ETCSRI(1) For Nanaya, the lady with perfect allure, Sumu-El, the powerful man, king of Urim, king of Sumer and Akkad, built her E-ituda, temple that fills her heart with joy in Urim.
Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Royal Inscriptions — scholar edition (Vienna).
Why it matters
Attests Sumu-El's construction of Nanaya's temple E-ituda at Ur, anchoring the goddess's early cultic presence in that city within the dynastic building program of an Old Babylonian king.
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 Q002033.
Attribution
Image: UM 32-40-431 (UM 32-40-401 ?) (University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA) — from Ur (mod. Tell Muqayyar) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P431614). source
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/Q002033/.
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.