Position in chronology
CST 191
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P107703.
Transliteration
2(disz) udu niga saga gag-gu-la2-sze3 a-a-kal-la maszkim 1(disz) gu4 niga [...] 2(disz) udu niga 1(disz) masz2-gal niga [...] 1(u) 1(disz) udu niga da lu2 szi-ig-sza-bi-sze3 giri3 ku3-nanna ARAD2-mu maszkim iti u4 1(u) 7(disz) ba-zal sza3 unu-ga zi-ga lu2-dingir-ra iti ezem-an-na mu us2-sa ki-masz ba-hul
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — CST 191. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: John Rylands Library, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK (P107703) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P107703..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.