Position in chronology
NATN 289 (cast)
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P120987.
Transliteration
4(u) 9(asz) 2(barig) 1(ban2) 2(disz) sila3 ziz2 gur sa2-du11 gu-du-mu 1(asz) ziz2 gur lu2-suen 3(barig) ziz2 ku3-nanna szunigin 4(u) 9(asz) 1(ban2) 2(disz) sila3 ziz2 gur ganun-ta ba-zi iti sze-sag11-ku5 mu ma-da za-ab-sza-li ba-hul
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — NATN 289 (cast). No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA (P120987) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P120987..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.