Position in chronology
SA 060
Translation · reference
ExperimentalSource: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P128717.
Why it matters
Transliteration
3(disz) KU ig mi-x-ra ki-la2-bi 2(disz) 5/6(disz) ma-na 1(disz) gin2 lugal-sza3-la2 i3-la2# iti sze-sag11-[ku5] mu szu-suen# lugal uri5 ma2-gur8-mah en-lil2 nin-lil2-ra mu-ne-dim2
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — SA 060. 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: Institut Catholique, Paris, France ? (P128717) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P128717..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.