Position in chronology
MVN 02, 313
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P113612.
Transliteration
1(u) la2 1(disz) gurusz u4 1(disz)-sze3 kun-zi-da suh-gibil du3-a gub-ba ugula a-a-gi-na kiszib3 lugal-e2-mah-e iti ezem-szul-gi mu ur-bi2-i3-lum ba-hul lugal-e2-mah-e dub-sar dumu lugal-ku3-ga-ni
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — MVN 02, 313. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium (P113612) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P113612..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.