Position in chronology
MVN 18, 711
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P120072.
Transliteration
nam-1(u) a-x [...] 1(gesz2) lu2-[...] 3(u) 5(disz) ur-[...] 1(gesz2) 1(u) 2(disz) lugal-za3-ge-[si] 1(gesz2) 2(u) 3(disz) lu2-dingir-ra 1(gesz2) [...] x 1(gesz2) 3(u) [...] 1(gesz2) elam 3(u) ur-gilgames3 2(gesz2) ur-ma-mi 1(gesz2) ab-ba-kal-la szunigin 1(u) 1(asz) 3(barig) 4(ban2) gur# nam-1(u) du3-NE#-[...] 1(gesz2) 3(u) [...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — MVN 18, 711. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Montserrat Museum, Barcelona, Spain (P120072) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P120072..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.