Position in chronology
YOS 18, 073
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P142467.
Transliteration
1(barig) zi3-gu saga 1(barig) zi3-gu us2 1(asz) 3(barig) dabin gur lugal dingir-sa6-ga dam-gar3 szu ba-ti mu ab-ba-mu dub-sar-sze3 da-da-a ib2-gi-ne2 iti# min-esz3
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — YOS 18, 073. 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 (P142467) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P142467..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.