Position in chronology
Akkadica 114-115, 080 33
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P145528.
Transliteration
1(disz) udu# [bar]-gal2# [lugal]-ma2-gur8-re 2(disz) udu 1(disz) masz2 ur#-nigar u4 5(disz)-kam mu-kux(DU) in-ta-[e3-a] i3#-[dab5] giri3 nanna-ma-ba dub-sar iti ezem-szul-gi mu szu-suen lugal
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — Akkadica 114-115, 080 33. 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: Musées royaux d’Art et d’Histoire, Brussels, Belgium (P145528) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P145528..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.