Position in chronology
Syracuse 018
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P130569.
Transliteration
1(u) 1(disz) 1/3(disz) gin2 2(u) 5(disz) sze ku3-babbar la2-ia3 su-ga szu-ku6-e-ne ki ur-szara2-ta a-kal-la szu ba-ti iti min-esz3 mu en nanna masz-e i3-pa3 a-kal-la dub-sar dumu ur-nigar szusz3
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — Syracuse 018. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Syracuse University Library, Syracuse, New York, USA (P130569) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P130569..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.