Position in chronology
MVN 20, 050
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P142983.
Transliteration
1(disz) udu niga 3(disz)-kam us2 1(disz) udu niga 4(disz)-kam us2 2(disz) udu niga u4 1(u) 2(disz)-kam 2(disz) udu a-lum niga 3(disz)-kam us2 u4 1(u) 3(disz)-kam szunigin 1(disz) udu niga 3(disz)-kam us2 szunigin 2(disz) udu niga a-lum 3(disz)-kam us2 szunigin 1(disz) udu niga 4(disz)-[kam] us2 szunigin 2(disz) udu niga 6(disz) udu niga ki in-ta-e3-a-ta en-lil2-zi-sza3#-gal2 i3-dab5 iti a2-ki-ti mu szu-suen lugal uri5-ma-ke4 bad3 mar-tu mu-ri-iq-ti-id-ni-im mu-du3
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — MVN 20, 050. 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 (P142983) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P142983..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.