Position in chronology
TCL 02, 5602
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P131691.
Transliteration
1(gesz2) la2 1(disz) udu 1(u) asz2-gar3 1(u) 3(disz) sila4 szu-gid2 ki lu2-dingir-ra-ta mu-kux(DU) ur-ku3-nun-na i3-dab5 iti szu-esz5-sza mu!(ASZ) ki-masz ba-hul 1(gesz2) 2(u) 2(disz)
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — TCL 02, 5602. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P131691) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P131691..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.