Position in chronology
TCL 02, 5551
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P131640.
Transliteration
1(disz) lugal-dur2-du10 1(disz) 4(disz) ur-ig-alim 1(disz) 4(disz) lugal-dur2-du10 min 1(disz) 4(disz) al-la 1(disz) lu2-na-ru2-a 1(disz) ur-dam-gal-nun lu2 na-gab2-tum-me giri3 lu2-sa6-ga dub-sar
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — TCL 02, 5551. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P131640) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P131640..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.