Position in chronology
TJA pl.57, IOS 40
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P134133.
Transliteration
zah3 u2-sze3-he2#-du zah3 la-ni szesz ur-sa6-ga ensi2# en-na i3-gen-na-asz 2(disz)-a-bi en-nun-ga2 he2-ti inim ensi2-ka a-kal-la szesz ukken-ne2 ur-sukkal# szesz# lu2-kal-ga [utu]-mu dumu ur-nigar szu-i iri he2-mi-ni-tusz
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — TJA pl.57, IOS 40. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Institute of Oriental Studies, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK (P134133) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P134133..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.