Position in chronology
MVN 21, 077
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P120314.
Transliteration
2(u) 2(disz) gurusz u4 2(disz)-sze3 sahar-u2-u2-ta i7 lugal-sze3 sze ga6-ga2 u3 sze ma2-a si-ga ugula szara2-a-mu kiszib3 lu2-nam2-nun-ka iti diri mu si-ma-num2 ba-hul lu2-nam2-an-ka dub-sar dumu lu2-szara2 sa12-du5-ka
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — MVN 21, 077. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation (P120314) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P120314..
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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.
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.