Position in chronology
Amar-Suena 07
Written in modern English
A king of Ur and of the four quarters of the world — whose name was proclaimed by a deity whose name is damaged on the surface — built the E-temen-ni-guru, his beloved temple, in Ur. He is described as the steadfast supporter of Enlil's temple and as powerful, though the word completing that phrase is lost.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — scholar edition
ETCSRI(o 1') ... whose name was prošlaimed by ..., the steadfast supporter of Enlilś temple, the powerful ..., king of Urim, king of the four quarterṣ built the E-temen-ni-guru, his beloved temple, in Urim.
Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Royal Inscriptions — scholar edition (Vienna).
Scholarly note
Sumerian royal inscription, published in the Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Royal Inscriptions (ETCSRI) by Gábor Zólyomi and collaborators. Translation reproduced from the ETCSRI edition. ORACC text Q001793.
Attribution
Image: .
Translation excerpted from Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Royal Inscriptions (ETCSRI), University of Vienna, edited by Gábor Zólyomi et al. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/etcsri/Q001793/.
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.