Position in chronology
MVN 13, 187
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P116959.
Transliteration
6(asz) sze gur [lugal] ugula i3-li2-mu#-[(x)] 1(asz) da-da-a x 1(barig) ur-sila-luh x 1(barig) szesz-a-ni gudu4 szul-gi [...] 2(ban2) ni-bu3-ul [...] 2(ban2) guzza-ni [...] 5(disz) sila3 ugula ab-ba 1(barig) na-ba-sa2 dub-sar 4(asz) ur-ama-na ugula 1(asz) lu2-zabala sipa udu ge6 szunigin 1(u) 4(asz) 3(barig) 2(ban2) 5(disz) sila3 sze gur sze ur5-ra mu-kux(DU) u4 6(disz)-kam iti sze-kar-ra-gal2-la mu us2-sa ki-masz ba-hul mu us2-sa-a-bi
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — MVN 13, 187. 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 (P116959) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P116959..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.