Position in chronology
IMJ 80.060.0187
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P430020.
Transliteration
3(disz) gurusz sza3-gu4 u4 1(u) 7(disz)-sze3 3(disz) gurusz u4 1(u) 3(disz)-sze3 kun i7 tum-malx(TUR3) ki ka sahar si-ga ugula ab-ba-saga kiszib3 lu2-du10-ga mu na-ru2-a mah ba-du3 lu2-du10-ga dub-sar dumu lugal-nesag-e
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — IMJ 80.060.0187. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: The Israel Museum, Jerusalem (P430020) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P430020..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.