Position in chronology
TMH NF 1-2, 050
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P134362.
Transliteration
1(disz) sag nita-am3 szesz-dingir-mu mu-ni nig2-sa10-am3-ni-sze3 5(disz) 1/2(disz) gin2 ku3-babbar ba-szi-la2 a-bu-a-[...-sze3] [...] [in-szi-sa10] iti ga6-ga6-e3 mu dumu-munus lugal ensi2 za-ab-sza-li ba-tuku a-bu-a-[...] [...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — TMH NF 1-2, 050. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Hilprecht Collection, University of Jena, Germany (P134362) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P134362..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.