Position in chronology
SBen 20
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P472771.
Transliteration
1(szar2) 2(gesz2) 2(u) sa gi gu-nigin2-ba 1(u) 3(disz) sa-ta 4(disz) dal ga2-nun kar-ra-ta ma2-a ga2-ra ki a-kal-la-ta kiszib3 ur-szul-pa-e3 mu na-ru2-a-mah ba-du3 ur-szul-pa-e3 dumu ur-isztaran lu2 udu niga
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — SBen 20. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: private: anonymous, Victoria, Australia (P472771) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P472771..
Related tablets
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.