Position in chronology
Syracuse 056
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P130607.
Transliteration
1(gesz'u) 3(u) 6(disz) gurusz u4 1(disz)-sze3 a-da gub-ba 5(disz) sar u2# sahar-ba gurusz-e 7(disz) [1/2(disz)] gin2#-ta a2-bi u4 4(u)-kam a-sza3 i3-szum2 a-sza3 nin-ur4-ra u3 a-sza3 szara2 ugula ur-gigir# szabra kiszib3 da-a-gi mu en eridu ba-hun da-a-gi dub-sar ()
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — Syracuse 056. 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 (P130607) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P130607..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.