Position in chronology
BBVO 11, 298, 6N-T773
Translation · reference
ExperimentalSource: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P105088.
Why it matters
Transliteration
kiszib3 szabra inanna-ka mu e2 puzur4-isz-da-gan ba-du3-ta mu e2 szara2 umma ba-du3-a-sze3 lugal-uszur3-[da] an-da-gal2-la# ul-pa3 zi-re-dam iti sze-sag11-ku5 mu i-bi2#-[suen] lugal# [...] lugal-uszur3 dam-gar3 dumu ur-du6-ku3-ga
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — BBVO 11, 298, 6N-T773. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format). [year-name] Dated to Ibbi-Suen y1 — Ibbi-Suen became king based on canonical year-name formula in the transliteration.
Attribution
Image: Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA (P105088) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P105088..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.