Position in chronology
MVN 18, 668
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P120029.
Transliteration
1(disz) tug2 sag usz-bar ku3-bi 2/3(|NINDA2x(SZE.2(ASZ))|)? la2-ia3 su-ga lugal-guzza ki ga-a-ta ur-dam szu ba-ti mu amar-suen lugal [1(disz)] tug2 sag usz-[bar] ku3#-bi 2/3(|NINDA2x(SZE.2(ASZ))|)? la2-ia3 su#-ga# x x [...] sar# ki ga#-a-ta kiszib3 ur-dam ur-dam dub-sar dumu ur-[nansze]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — MVN 18, 668. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format). [year-name] Dated to Amar-Suen y1 — Amar-Suen became king based on canonical year-name formula in the transliteration.
Attribution
Image: Montserrat Museum, Barcelona, Spain (P120029) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P120029..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.