Position in chronology
MVN 13, 861
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P117633.
Transliteration
1(disz) udu u4 2(u) 5(disz)-kam 1(disz) udu 1(disz) u8 u4 2(u) 6(disz)-kam 1(disz) sila4-nita2 u4 2(u) 7(disz)-kam 1(disz) u8 u4 3(u) la2 2(disz@t)-kam ba-usz2 sza3 tum-ma-al ki asz-ne2-u18?-ta be-li2-a-ri2-ik szu ba-ti iti ses-da-gu7 mu en-ubur-zi-an-na nanna masz-e i3-pa3
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — MVN 13, 861. 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 (P117633) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P117633..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.