Position in chronology
MVN 21, 116
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P120353.
Transliteration
1(gesz2) 1(u) 5(disz) gurusz u4 1(disz)-sze3 ki i7-pa-e3-ta nig2-ka9 mar-sa gu2-de3-na-ka ugu2 lu2-dingir-ra ba-a-gar kiszib3 ur-nun-gal mu szu-suen lugal-e na-ru2-a-mah mu-du3 ur-nun-gal dub-sar dumu ur-szara2 sza13-dub-ba-ka
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — MVN 21, 116. 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 (P120353) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P120353..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.