Position in chronology
AAICAB 1/2, pl. 138, 1971-341
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P248855.
Transliteration
har 1(gesz2) 4(disz) dingir-mu mu szu-suen lugal mu-kux(DU) szara2 |KI.AN| ur-dun mu 2(disz) a-kam mu szu-suen lugal u3 mu ma2 en-ki kiszib3 dab-ba mu-kux(DU) szara2 umma lugal-nir mu ma2 en-ki masz2 szu-nir nin-ur4-ra sza3-ku3-ge mu 4(disz) [...]-zu-[...] mu bad3# mar#-tu# [...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — AAICAB 1/2, pl. 138, 1971-341. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format). [year-name] Dated to Šu-Suen y1 — Šu-Suen became king based on canonical year-name formula in the transliteration.
Attribution
Image: Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, UK (P248855) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P248855..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.