Position in chronology
MVN 11, 142
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P116155.
Transliteration
1/3(disz) ma-na uruda 4(disz) sila3 i3 hi-a 6(disz) ma-na u2-hab2 3(disz) ma-na al-lu-ha-ru-um 1(disz) 1/2(disz) ma-na sa [ki] gudu4# szul-gi-ra-ta szu-iszkur dumu ha-la-asz-ka szu# ba-ti iti# ki-siki-[nin-a-zu] [mu szu-suen lugal] szu-iszkur dumu ha-la-asz-ti gudu4 szul-[gi]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — MVN 11, 142. 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: Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA (P116155) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P116155..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.