Position in chronology
RA 079, 032 26
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P128048.
Transliteration
2(gesz2) sze gur sila3 1(gesz2) 2(u)-ta ki ur-e11-e-ta si-NE-e szu ba-ti mu ur-nigar-sze3 lu2-ma2-gan mu-zi 2(gesz2) sze gur sila3 1(gesz2) 2(u)-ta ki ur-e11-e-ta si-NE-e szu ba-ti mu ur#-nigar#[]-sze3# lu2-ma2-gan mu-zi mu 2(disz@t)-kam us2-sa#-[bi] si#-NE-e dub#-sar [dumu] lugal-gaba#?
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — RA 079, 032 26. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio, USA (P128048) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P128048..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.