Position in chronology
TRU 054
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P134818.
Transliteration
1(u) 2(disz) udu masz2 hi-a didli ki ur-ku3-nun-na-ta ur-ig-alim i3-dab5 iti szu-esz5-sza ba-a-kesz2 mu en nanna masz-e i3-pa3 ur-ig-alim dumu lugal-ur-sag sipa bi-zu
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — TRU 054. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Institut Catholique, Paris, France (P134818) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P134818..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.