Position in chronology
YOS 18, 048
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P142442.
Transliteration
1(disz) udu u2 e2 szara2-sze3 1(disz) masz2 e2 nin-ur4-ra-sze3 sza3 umma zi-ga-am3# iti nesag
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — YOS 18, 048. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Colgate University Libraries, Hamilton, New York, USA (P142442) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P142442..
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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.
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.