Position in chronology
JCS 02, 192 PTS 0630
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P126907.
Transliteration
3(disz) kid szer7-ru-um ki-la2-bi 1(disz) sar 1(u) gin2 ma2 lugal-ezem 3(disz) kid szer7-ru-um ki-la2-bi 1(disz) sar ma2 da-a-ga ki a-gu-ta ma2 ninda-ka ba-a-dulx(|URxA|) kiszib3 lugal-ezem bala-a-sze3 mu szu-suen lugal lugal-ezem dumu gi-na
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — JCS 02, 192 PTS 0630. 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: Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, New Jersey, USA (P126907) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P126907..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.