Position in chronology
Berens 082
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P105793.
Transliteration
du10-ga-mu-ra u3-na-a-du11 1(u) esir2 E2-A gur lugal-nir-gal2 he2-na-ab-szum2-mu lu2-dingir-ra-ke4 gu4-e-a-a ki-ba ga-ra-a-ga2-ar ma-an-du11
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — Berens 082. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, Ireland (P105793) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P105793..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.