Position in chronology
AAICAB 1/4, Bod S 548
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P330614.
Transliteration
1(u) 1(disz) gurusz u4 5(disz)-sze3 zi3 ma2-a si-ga nibru-sze3 ugula a-gi-na-a-sze3 kiszib3 nam-sza3-tam ur-zu iti dumu-zi mu ur-bi2-lum ba-hul ur-zu dub-sar zi3-da dumu a2-zi-da
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — AAICAB 1/4, Bod S 548. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, UK (P330614) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P330614..
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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.
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.