Position in chronology
MVN 20, 023
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P142956.
Transliteration
1(gesz2) KU ig ki-la2-bi 4(disz) 1/2(disz) ma-na 3(disz) gin2 1(gesz2) 4(u) 6(disz) gag-a-ra-ab-ba ki-la2-bi 4(disz) 5/6(disz) ma-na mu ig-dab limmu2-ba e2 gigir-sze3 ur#-al-la i3-la2 ugula# lugal-ku3-zu giri3 lu2-inanna sukkal iti pa4-u2-e mu szu-suen lugal uri5-ke4 ma#-da# za-ab-sza-li mu-hul kiszib3 nu-ra-a
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — MVN 20, 023. 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: State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation (P142956) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P142956..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.