Position in chronology
MVN 13, 161
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P116933.
Transliteration
1(gesz'u) 2(gesz2) sa gi-zi 1(u) 3(disz)-ta 2(gesz'u) 2(gesz2) sa 1(u)-ta gu-nigin2-bi 3(gesz2) 7(disz) 1/3(disz)!(BI) ki utu-ik-s,ur2-ta lu2-kal-la szu ba-ti gi-gi-sze3 ga2-ga2-dam iti mu-szu-du7 mu hu-uh2-nu-ri ba-hul lu2-kal-la ARAD2 lugal dumu ur-[...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — MVN 13, 161. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Free Library of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA (P116933) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P116933..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.