Position in chronology
MVN 13, 682
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P117455.
Transliteration
[x an]-za-am ku3-babbar 1(disz) ma-na mes-lam-ta-e3-a [x] lugal gu2-du8-a 1(disz) an-za-am ku3-babbar 1(disz) ma-na inanna unu-ga 1(disz) an-za-am ku3-babbar 1/2(disz) ma-na nin-lil2 a-ru-a lugal giri3 a-tu sagi ki puzur4-er3-ra-ta ba-zi sza3 uri5-ma [iti a2-ki]-ti [mu ki-masz] u3 hur-[ti ba]-hul
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — MVN 13, 682. 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 (P117455) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P117455..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.