Position in chronology
Syracuse 174
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P130725.
Transliteration
1(asz) 3(barig) 3(ban2) esir2 E2-A gur lugal ki ur-dumu-zi-da-ta kiszib3 lu2-igi-sa6-sa6 sza3 bala-a mu si-mu-ru-um lu-lu-bum2 a-ra2 1(u) la2 1(disz)-kam ba-hul lu2-igi-sa6-sa6 dub-sar dumu ur-gigir-re
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — Syracuse 174. 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 (P130725) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P130725..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.