Position in chronology
Berens 032
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P105743.
Transliteration
1(gesz2) sze gur lugal ma2 lu2-ge6-an-na u3 ur-zigum-ma-ta 3(u) gur [ki] ur-dun-ta [i3]-dub tir-ba-bil3-la-ta [ki] lu2-gi-na-ta [a]-tu szu ba-ti szu#-x ma2-lah5-ne-sze3 iti# ezem-li9-si4 mu us2-sa ur-bi2-lum ba-hul
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — Berens 032. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, Ireland (P105743) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P105743..
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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.
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.