Position in chronology
Babyloniaca 07, 076 06
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P104764.
Transliteration
1(disz) udu niga szimaszgi 1(disz) masz2-gal niga szimaszgi s,e-lu-usz-da-gan 1(disz) sila4 ur-en-lil2-la2 1(disz) sila4 ur-suen 1(disz) masz2 id-da-a 1(disz) sila4 zabar-dab5 2(disz) sila4 ensi2 nibru mu-kux(DU) na-sa6 i3-dab5 [iti] ses-da-gu7 [mu us2]-sa ki-masz ba-hul [u4] 2(u) 3(disz)-kam
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — Babyloniaca 07, 076 06. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio, USA (P104764) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P104764..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.