Position in chronology
Nisaba 15, 0457
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P453856.
Transliteration
1(gesz2) sze gur sze sza-at-esz18-dar dam szara2-kam kiszib3 be-li2-ka3-si-ip ki a-bu-du10-ta [...] [...]-ni-rum dub?-sar? szu ba-an-ti iti sze-sag11-ku5 mu szu-suen lugal uri5-[ma]-ke4 ma2-gur8-mah en-lil2 nin-lil2-[ra] mu-ne-dim2 1(gesz2) [sze gur] sze sza-[at-esz18-dar] dam [szara2-kam] kiszib3 be-[li2-ka3-si-ip]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — Nisaba 15, 0457. 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: private: anonymous, Germany (P453856) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P453856..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.