Position in chronology
Syracuse 288
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P130839.
Transliteration
1(gesz'u) 1(gesz2) sa gi a-ra2 1(disz)-kam 1(gesz'u) 1(gesz2) sa gi a-ra2 2(disz)-kam 1(gesz'u) 3(gesz2) sa gi a-ra2 3(disz)-kam erin-KU-sze3 kux(KWU147)-ra giri3 ba-sa6 iti sze-sag11-ku5 mu us2-sa ur-bi2-lum a-ra2 1(u) la2 1(disz)-kam ur-szul-pa-e3 dub-sar dumu lugal-ku3-ga-ni
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — Syracuse 288. 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 (P130839) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P130839..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.