Position in chronology
Tavolette 053
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P131838.
Transliteration
1(disz) nig2-dag? i3-da-ga 2(disz) lugal-ur2-ra-ni e2 ki-sze3 szu-suen 4(disz) a2-gal2-nu-tuku!(UR4) giri3 a-kal-la ba-zi
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — Tavolette 053. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Museo di Antichità di Torino, Turin, Italy (P131838) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P131838..
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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.
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.