Position in chronology
Amar-Suena 2056add / CDLI Seals 004685 (CDLI Seals 005889 (composite))
Written in modern English
Amar-Suena — mighty king, king of Ur, king of the four quarters of the world — is the king named on this seal. The inscription identifies its owner as Ur-sagaĝu, royal scribe and son of Lugal-kagina, who declares himself the king's servant.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — scholar edition
ETCSRI(i 1) Amar-Suena, the powerful king, king of Urim, king of the four quarters: Ur-sagaĝu, the royal scribe, child of Lugal-kagina, is your servant.
Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Royal Inscriptions — scholar edition (Vienna).
Scholarly note
Sumerian royal inscription, published in the Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Royal Inscriptions (ETCSRI) by Gábor Zólyomi and collaborators. Translation reproduced from the ETCSRI edition. ORACC text Q004157.
Attribution
Image: .
Translation excerpted from Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Royal Inscriptions (ETCSRI), University of Vienna, edited by Gábor Zólyomi et al. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/etcsri/Q004157/.
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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.
A window into the world's first total state. The Ur III administration tracked every animal, every worker, every shekel — for a population in the millions. The level of paperwork was not exceeded until the modern era.