Position in chronology
U 10145
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P370886.
Transliteration
6(gesz2) 1(u) 4(disz) ur-ku3-nun-na 1(u) 5(disz) e2 du3-du3 kinda2 2(gesz2) 1(u) lu2-banda3 3(disz) aga3-us2 ARAD2-nanna [...] 6(gesz2) 2(disz) ur-ku3-nun-na
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — U 10145. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: British Museum, London, UK (P370886) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P370886..
Related tablets
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.