Position in chronology
HLC 271 (pl. 014)
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P110145.
Transliteration
5(gesz2) 2(u) 4(asz) sze gur lugal sze zi3-gu saga-sze3 i3-dub ku-ki-ku-nig2-du10 ma2-a si-ga nibru-sze3 ur-nin-gesz-zi-da dumu lugal-ni2-te-na szu ba-ti iti ezem-li9-si4 mu us2-sa si-mu-ur4-ru-um lu-lu-bu-um a-ra2 1(u) la2 1(disz)-kam-asz ba-hul
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — HLC 271 (pl. 014). No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA (P110145) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P110145..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.