Position in chronology
Nisaba 30, 91
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P332399.
Transliteration
1(gesz2) 2(asz) 2(barig) sze gur lugal iszkur-ba-ni engar 5(u) 7(asz) gur za-ri2-iq engar 5(u) 5(asz) gur bu3?-du-a engar 3(u) 5(asz) gur 1(u) 2(barig) ziz2 gur puzur4-iszkur engar mu-kux(DU)
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — Nisaba 30, 91. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: private: anonymous, New York, New York, USA (P332399) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P332399..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.