Position in chronology
Sumerian - Ur-Bau Foundation Tablet - Walters 41106 - View A
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: Wikimedia Commons file: File:Sumerian - Ur-Bau Foundation Tablet - Walters 41106 - View A.jpg. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ASumerian_-_Ur-Bau_Foundation_Tablet_-_Walters_41106_-_View_A.jpg. Description: The cuneiform script records the order of King Ur-Baba of Lagash to rebuild the temple of its main god, Ningirsu. Ur-Baba was the predecessor of the famous King Gudea. The tablet also mentions that Ur-Baba built temples in other important c
Scholarly note
Tablet image sourced from Wikimedia Commons (Public domain). No scholarly translation referenced in source metadata. Source description: The cuneiform script records the order of King Ur-Baba of Lagash to rebuild the temple of its main god, Ningirsu. Ur-Baba was the predecessor of the famous King Gudea. The tablet also mentions that Ur
Attribution
Image: Anonymous ( Sumer ) Unknown author — Wikimedia Commons. source
Translation excerpted from Wikimedia Commons file: File:Sumerian - Ur-Bau Foundation Tablet - Walters 41106 - View A.jpg. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ASumerian_-_Ur-Bau_Foundation_Tablet_-_Walters_41106_-_View_A.jpg. Description: The cuneiform script records the order of King Ur-Baba of Lagash to rebuild the temple of its main god, Ningirsu. Ur-Baba was the predecessor of the famous King Gudea. The tablet also mentions that Ur-Baba built temples in other important c.
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Related sources
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.