Position in chronology
Atiqot 4, pl. 21 43
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P102806.
Transliteration
[...] 4(disz) gin2 ku3-babbar ku3 nam-DU? mu udu niga-sze3 ki# bi2-da simug-ta mu#-kux(DU) gu-du-du szu ba-ti iti diri mu ma2-gur8-mah ba-dim2
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — Atiqot 4, pl. 21 43. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: The Israel Museum, Jerusalem (P102806) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P102806..
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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.
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.