Position in chronology
MVN 21, 282
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P120519.
Transliteration
5(u) 4(asz) 4(barig) 2(ban2) sze gur lugal 1(gesz2) 2(u) 6(asz) 4(barig) 1(ban2) 5(disz) sila3 ziz2 gur 2(u) 5(asz) 1(barig) 5(ban2) 4(disz) 2/3(disz) sila3 gig gur mu-kux(DU)-sze3 3(u) gur sze ar3-ra zi3-da 3(asz) sze gur ki da-da-a dub-sar-bi-ta gur zabar-ta ki ur-li9-si4-ta kiszib3 dab-ba ad-da-gu-la iti dumu-zi mu a-ra2 2(disz)-kam kar2-har ba-hul gaba-ri sza3 kiszib3-ba
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — MVN 21, 282. 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 (P120519) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P120519..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.