Position in chronology
MVN 13, 732
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P117505.
Transliteration
1(u) 5(disz) gin2 i3 1/2(disz) sila3# nig2-ar3 1/2(disz) sila3 x x 2(disz) sila3 zu2-lum 7(disz) 1/2(disz) sila3 naga si-e3 nig2-dab5 a-tu5-a ki u2-la-i-ni-isz giri3 a-hi-ma ki i-la-ak-nu-id iti ezem-nin-a-zu mu en inanna masz2-e i3-pa3 ur-du6-ku3-ga dub-sar dumu an-ne2-zu
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — MVN 13, 732. 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 (P117505) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P117505..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.