Position in chronology
NYPL 308
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P122846.
Transliteration
1(disz) 5/6(disz) sar kin-a gurusz-e 7(disz) 1/2(disz) gin2-ta 5(disz) 1/3(disz) sar kin sahar-ra a2 sza3-gu4-ka i7 szu-suen-he2-gal2-szara2 ba-al-la ugula i7-pa-e3 kiszib3 ur-e11-e mu szu-suen lugal-e bad3 mar-tu mu-du3 ur-e11-e dub-sar dumu ur-nigar
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — NYPL 308. 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: New York Public Library, New York, New York, USA (P122846) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P122846..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.