Position in chronology
MVN 15, 230
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P118495.
Transliteration
2(barig) 5(ban2) sze ur5-ra masz2 nu-tuku ki szesz-kal-la-ta ab-ba-kal-la szu ba-ti igi lu2-bala-saga igi inim-utu-sze3 iti dumu-zi-ta iti nesag-sze3 su-su-dam mu lugal-bi in-pa3 mu ma2-gur8-mah ba-dim2 ab-ba-kal-[la] dumu ur-[mes]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — MVN 15, 230. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: private: anonymous, New York, New York, USA (P118495) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P118495..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.