Position in chronology
Amar-Suena 11
Written in modern English
Amar-Suena — whose name was proclaimed by Enlil in Nippur, steadfast supporter of Enlil's temple, powerful king of Ur, king of the four quarters — erected a statue bearing the inscription: 'He whose name was proclaimed by Suen is the beloved of Ur.' What follows is a copy of a baked brick found in the excavated rubble of Ur: Sîn-balāssu-iqbi, military governor of Ur, discovered it while searching for the foundations of the E-kiš-nu-ĝal temple, and Nabû-šuma-iddin, son of Iddin-Papsukkal and lamentation-priest of Sîn, read and copied it so others could see it. The inscription ends with a curse or warning directed at whoever does something — the surface breaks off before that clause is complete.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — scholar edition
ETCSRI(1) Amar-Suena, whose name was proclaimed by Enlil in Nibru, the steadfast supporter of Enlil's temple, the powerful king, king of Urim, king of the four quarters, erected the statue (with the name) "It is him whose name was proclaimed by Suen who is the beloved of Urim". (1) Copy of a baked brick from the excavated debris of Urim, the work of Amar-Suena, king of Urim, that Sîn-balāssu-iqbi, military governor of Urim, found while looking for the ground-plan of the E-kiš-nu-ĝal. Nabû-šuma-iddin, son of Iddin-Papsukkal, the lamentation-priest of Sîn, read and copied it for viewing. (14) Whoever…
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 Q001794.
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/Q001794/.
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.