Position in chronology
RTC 417
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P128570.
Transliteration
2(u) 6(disz) gurusz 2(asz) sze gur lugal-ta sze-bi 5(u) 2(asz) gur gab2-us2 udu kur-ka szuku-bi e2-gal-la bi2-ib2-gi4-me ki a-tu-ta kiszib3 lu2-du10-ga szusz3 mu a-ra2 3(disz)-kam-asz si-mu-ur4-ru-um ba-hul szul-gi nita kal-ga lugal uri5-ma lugal ki-en-gi ki-uri lu2-du10-ga dumu lu2-nanna x-[x]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — RTC 417. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P128570) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P128570..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.