Position in chronology
URU-KA-gina 14v
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) The name of this (object) is: "Bau, (endowed with) deep understanding, assigned position to Iri-kagina".
Source: Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Royal Inscriptions (ETCSRI), University of Vienna, edited by Gábor Zólyomi et al. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/etcsri/Q001171/
Why it matters
Names Bau as the divine authority who installed Iri-kagina (Urukagina) in office — corroborating the reformer king's ideological claim that his rule, and his celebrated social reforms, derived from divine mandate rather than conquest.
Transliteration
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 Q001171.
Attribution
Image: Erm 14322 (State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation) — from Girsu (mod. Tello) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P222659). 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/Q001171/.
Related tablets
Related sources
The earliest historical document in human history.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.
The oldest surviving law code in human history. The principle that the state — not the wronged family — defines and enforces justice begins here.
Not the first law code, but the most complete and the most famous. Inscribed on a black diorite stele over two meters tall, displayed in a public place — law made visible, law made monumental.