Position in chronology
StLouis 083
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P217990.
Transliteration
1(gesz2) 1(u) 4(disz) sa-gi gu-nigin2-ba 2(u) 2(disz)-ta i3-gal2 gu-nigin2-bi 2(u) gu2 ki ur-nigar-ta ga2-nun nibru ba-an-kux(KWU147) kiszib3 bi2-i3-du11-ga iti dumu-zi mu ha-ar-szi ba-a-hul
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — StLouis 083. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, Missouri, USA (P217990) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P217990..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.