Position in chronology
Aegyptus 17, 053 070
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P100215.
Transliteration
3(disz) masz2-gal niga igi-kar2 e2-gi4-a ur-iszkur ensi2 ha-ma-zi2 szu-nin-szubur ra2-gaba maszkim iti u4 2(u) la2 1(disz) ba-zal ki zu-ba-ga-ta ba-zi giri3 ad-da-kal-la dub-sar iti ezem-me-ki-gal2 mu en nanna kar-zi-da ba-hun 3(disz) udu
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — Aegyptus 17, 053 070. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Museo di Antichità di Torino, Turin, Italy (P100215) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P100215..
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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.
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.