Position in chronology
NMSA 3567
Translation · reference
ExperimentalSource: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P341917.
Why it matters
Transliteration
3(u) kusz <a>-gar-ka dug gal-sze3 ki ur-szara2-ta kiszib3 szesz-kal-la iti dal mu szul-gi lugal-e bad3 mu-du3 ur-li9-si4 ensi2 umma szesz-kal-la dub-sar dumu na-silim ARAD2-zu
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — NMSA 3567. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format). [year-name] Dated to Šulgi y1 — Šulgi became king based on canonical year-name formula in the transliteration.
Attribution
Image: National Museum of Syria, Aleppo, Syria (P341917) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P341917..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.