Position in chronology
TJA pl.52, IOS 11
Translation · reference
ExperimentalSource: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P134105.
Why it matters
Transliteration
1(u) 3(asz) 1(barig) 4(ban2) sze gur sze nig2-ka9 ab-ba-gi-na ki giri3-ni-i3-sa6-ta a-tu-e szu ba-ti iti nesag mu us2-sa i-bi2-suen lugal
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — TJA pl.52, IOS 11. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format). [year-name] Dated to Ibbi-Suen y2 — Year after: Ibbi-Suen became king based on canonical year-name formula in the transliteration.
Attribution
Image: Institute of Oriental Studies, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK (P134105) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P134105..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.