Position in chronology
Syracuse 033
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P130584.
Transliteration
8(disz) gurusz u4 6(disz)-sze3 gi gil sur 1(u) gurusz u4 4(disz)-sze3 en-du8-du-ta kab2-ku5 dub-la2-utu-sze3 ugula gu2-tar u2 ga6-ga2 kiszib3 a-szi-an mu a-ra2 2(disz)-kam sza-asz-szu2-ru-um ba-hul a-szi-an ARAD2 szara2 dumu lugal-sa6-ga
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — Syracuse 033. 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 (P130584) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P130584..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.