Position in chronology
MVN 05, 126
Translation · reference
ExperimentalSource: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P114346.
Why it matters
Transliteration
4(disz) masz-da3-nita2 szu-gid2 e2-muhaldim mu aga3-us2-ke4-ne-sze3 ARAD2-mu maszkim iti u4 1(disz) ba-zal ki du11-ga-zi-da-ta ba-zi giri3 ip-hur sza-ra-ab-du iti a2-ki-ti mu us2-sa szu-suen lugal uri5-ma-ke4 bad3 mar-tu mu-ri-iq-ti-id-ni-im ba-du3 4(disz)
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — MVN 05, 126. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format). [year-name] Dated to Šu-Suen y2 — Year after: Šu-Suen became king based on canonical year-name formula in the transliteration.
Attribution
Image: private: anonymous, unlocated (P114346) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P114346..
Related tablets
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.