Position in chronology
Syracuse 049
Translation · reference
ExperimentalSource: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P130600.
Why it matters
Transliteration
1(disz) geme2-gigir da-ga-mu i3-dab5 iti dal-ta u4 1(u)-am3 ba-ra-zal-la-ta iti li9-si4 u4 6(disz)-sze3 ugula lugal-e2-mah-e kiszib3 bi2-du11-ga [mu us2-sa] szu-suen# lugal bi2-du11-ga dub-sar dumu la-a-sa6
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — Syracuse 049. 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: Syracuse University Library, Syracuse, New York, USA (P130600) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P130600..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.