Position in chronology
CUSAS 39, 153
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P250483.
Transliteration
1(u) 3(disz) sar kid mah 5(gesz2) gil dagal 3(szar2) gil gazi a2 ad-kup4 hun-ga2-ke4 ib2-sur 2(gesz'u) 2(gesz2) 3(u) 4(disz) ur3 hi-a a2 nagar hun-ga2-ke4 ib2-ur5 u4 1-kam e2 szakkan2 ki lugal-a2-zi-da-ta iti udru mu us2-sa ki-masz ba-hul mu us2-sa-bi
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — CUSAS 39, 153. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Schøyen Collection, Oslo, Norway (P250483) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P250483..
Related tablets
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.