Position in chronology
MVN 13, 821
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P117594.
Transliteration
1(disz) sila4 nam-ha-ni 1(disz) amar masz-da3-nita2 lugal-a2-zi-da szabra 1(disz) sila4 da-da ensi2 1(disz) sila4 szu-e2-a szabra 1(disz) sila4 bur-szul-gi 1(disz) sila4 i-di3-a di-ku5 1(disz) sila4 szar-ru-um-i3-li2 dumu-ni u4 4(disz)-kam mu-kux(DU) [in]-ta-e3-a i3-dab5 [giri3 nu]-ur2-suen dub-sar [iti ezem]-nin-a-zu [mu] us2-sa si-ma-num2 ba-hul 6(disz) udu 1(disz) masz-da3
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — MVN 13, 821. 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 (P117594) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P117594..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.