Position in chronology
CST 787
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P108294.
Transliteration
2(gesz2) udu niga 1(disz) 1/2(disz) sila3-ta 1(gesz2) 7(disz) udu niga 1(disz) sila3-ta 3(u) sila4 kin-gi4-a 1/2(disz) sila3-ta 4(barig) 2(ban2) 2(disz) sila3 sze u4 1(disz)-kam sze-bi 2(u) 6(asz) 1(barig) u4 3(u)#-sze3 iti dal mu us2-sa si-ma-num2 ba-hul
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — CST 787. 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 (P108294) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P108294..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.