Position in chronology
TMH NF 1-2, 013
Translation · reference
ExperimentalSource: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P134325.
Why it matters
Transliteration
2/3(disz) ma-na ku3-babbar masz2 nu-tuku e2-da ab-da-gub ki ur-nin-urta-ta lugal-ezem-e szu ba-ti igi ur-da-mu-sze3 igi ur-szul-pa-e3 igi ur-li-sze3 igi un-da-ga-sze3 iti! bara2-za3-gar u4 1(disz) zal-a mu szu-suen lugal-am3
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — TMH NF 1-2, 013. 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: Hilprecht Collection, University of Jena, Germany (P134325) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P134325..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.