Position in chronology
Nisaba 15, 0337
Translation · reference
ExperimentalSource: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P370950.
Why it matters
Transliteration
4(barig) 1(ban2) kasz saga 3(barig) kasz du sa2-du11 2(asz) 1(ban2) 5(disz) sila3 sze gur sa2-du11 ku5-ra2 iti ezem-an-na 2(barig) 5(ban2) 5(disz) sila3 kasz du sa2-du11 ku5-ra2 iti ezem-an-na 1(barig) 1(ban2) kasz du [sa2]-du11 ku5-ra2 [iti sze]-sag11-ku5 mu us2-sa szu-suen lugal uri5-ma-ke4 bad3 mar-tu mu-du3
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — Nisaba 15, 0337. 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, Germany (P370950) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P370950..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.