Position in chronology
TMH NF 1-2, 295
Translation · reference
ExperimentalSource: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P134605.
Why it matters
Transliteration
4(disz) gurusz iti# [2(disz)]-sze3 gurusz-bi 4(gesz2) u4 1(disz)-sze3 sze a-sza3 kiri6-zu-ur5-ra-ta puzur4-isz-da-gan-sze3 de6-a-da tusz-a u3 sze-bi szu-szum2-ma giri3 ur-ba-ba6 gurum2 ak u4 didli sza3 gir2-su mu us2-sa szu-suen lugal uri5-ma-ke4 bad3 mar-tu mu-ri-iq-ti-id-ni-im mu-du3
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — TMH NF 1-2, 295. 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: Hilprecht Collection, University of Jena, Germany (P134605) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P134605..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.