Position in chronology
MCS 7, 21 AO 19544
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P112845.
Transliteration
3(asz) 2(barig) gur sag gur-ra ki-su7 ka-ma-ri2 i3-ib2-ga2-ar ugula kas4 3(ban2) 5(disz) sila3 a-sza3 pu2-a2-uz 3(asz) 3(barig) gur sag gur-ra ki-su7 ka-ma-ri2 i3-ib2-ga2-ar ugula# gu-u2-gu-a [...] x la2 [x] [...]-sze3? sze gesz e3-a [... i3-ib2]-ga2-ar [mu e2] szara2 ba-a-du3
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — MCS 7, 21 AO 19544. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P112845) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P112845..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.