Position in chronology
RA 075, 086 03
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P128024.
Transliteration
6(disz) u8? 2(disz) kir11 ASZ-ur4 3(disz) sila4 ASZ-ur4 ki szu-da-gan-ta ur-sa6-ga mu-ta iti ezem-mah mu us2-sa ki-masz ba-hul ur-sa6-ga dumu ur-[x]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — RA 075, 086 03. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: College de France, Paris, France (P128024) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P128024..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.