Position in chronology
NATN 272
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P120970.
Transliteration
3(disz) ma-na siki saga ku3-bi igi-3(disz)-gal2 utu-NE-NE-ra la2-da ki ur-sukkal-ta iri?-na szu ba-ti iti sig4-ka u4 1(u) 6(disz) zal-la mu ma2-dara3-abzu ba-ab-du8 ur2?-na dumu ur-en-ki x-x
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — NATN 272. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Arkeoloji Müzeleri, Istanbul, Turkey (P120970) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P120970..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.