Position in chronology
KM 89296
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P235043.
Transliteration
2(asz) 3(barig) 3(ban2) sze gur sze guru7-a e3-da# ki-su7 du6-ur3-bar#-tab# ki ka-guru7-ta ur-en-lil2-la2-ke4 u3 lugal-ma2-gur8-re# ba#-x kiszib3 nu-ur2-iszkur iti e2-iti-6(disz) mu ma-[da za]-ab-sza-li# [ba-hul] nu-ur2-iszkur dub-sar# dumu [...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — KM 89296. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA (P235043) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P235043..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.