Position in chronology
MVN 15, 355
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P118620.
Transliteration
2(u) gu2 3(disz) ma-na uruda ki dam-gar3-ta ugu2 gu-du-du ba-a-gar kiszib3 ur-nun-gal mu e2 szara2 ba-du3 szu-suen lugal kal-ga lugal uri5-ma lugal an-ub-da limmu2-ba ur-[nun-gal] dub-sar dumu ur-[szara2] sza13-dub-ba-ka ARAD2-zu
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — MVN 15, 355. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA (P118620) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P118620..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.