Position in chronology
Syracuse 053
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P130604.
Transliteration
5(u) 6(disz) gurusz al 5(disz) sar-ta iti szu-numun 1(gesz2) 5(u) 4(disz) gurusz al 5(disz) sar a2 lu2 hun-ga2 sze 6(disz) sila3-ta du11-ge-KA iti ezem-szul-gi ugula# ur-en-lil2-la2 kiszib3 nam-sza3-tam da-a-gi a-sza3-ge kin ak a-sza3 amar-kiszi17 mu ki-masz ba-hul da-a-gi dub-sar ()
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — Syracuse 053. 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 (P130604) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P130604..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.