Position in chronology
MVN 08, 133
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P115524.
Transliteration
1(disz) gu4 niga# ku-ku e2-a-na kux(KWU147)-ra giri3 la-gi-ip sagi ki ur-szu-ga-lam-ma-ta ba-zi iti u4 2(u) 8(disz) ba-zal giri3 nam-ha-ni szar2-ra-ab-du sza3 uri5-ma iti ezem-nin-a-[zu] mu ma2-dara3-abzu ba-ab-du8
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — MVN 08, 133. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: College de France, Paris, France (P115524) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P115524..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.