Position in chronology
Ibbi-Suen 02
Translation — scholar edition
ETCSRI(1) After he roared over Susa, Adamšah, and the land of Awan like a storm, made them submit in a single day, and captured their lords, Ibbi-Suen, the protective god of his land, the powerful king, king of Urim, king of the four quarters, fashioned for Nanna, who spreads radiance over his people, the most luminous lord among the gods, his master, an artfully wrought golden šagan bowl, whose decoration with bisons and snakes, and with the awe-inspiring dark raincloud1 attracts never-ending admiration, so that the mouth-opening ritual (carried out) with it at the place of the treasure chest during the great festival at the turn of the year, when (the statue of) Nanna is bathed, may never cease. He dedicated it for his well-being to him.
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 Q001849.
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/Q001849/.
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.