Position in chronology
Šulgi 2032
Translation — scholar edition
ETCSRI(1) For Ninmarki, lady of the Munus-gisa, his lady, Ur-Ninĝirsu, (also called?) En-me-zid-ana, the šennu priest, the beloved en priest of Nanše, dedicated this (statuette) for the well-being of Šulgi, the powerful man, king of Urim, king of the four quarters.
Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Royal Inscriptions — scholar edition (Vienna).
Why it matters
A priestly dedication to Ninmarki and Nanše for Šulgi's well-being, attesting how Ur III cult officials used votive inscriptions to link temple service with royal legitimacy.
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 Q001760.
Attribution
Image: HMA 9-16476 (Hearst Museum of Anthropology, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA) — from uncertain (mod. uncertain) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P227450). source
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/Q001760/.
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.