Position in chronology
MDP 06, 5009
Translation · reference
ExperimentalSource: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P008194.
Why it matters
Transliteration
[...] M247~g M377# M217#? x [...] , [...] [...] , 5(N14)# 2(N01) 3(N39B) M136~b#? [...] , [...] [...] M056~f# M288 , 1(N14) 1(N01) M075~g M056~f M288 , [...] [...] M203~a# M288 , 1(N14) M305 M388 M054 x [...] , [...] [...] x M288 , 3(N01) M292~a M388 M146# [...] , [...] [...] , 1(N14) M203~c M217# M288# , [...] x M005~a# [...] , [...] [...] , [...] 5(N14)# 1(N01)# 2(N39B)# [...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Proto-Elamite (ca. 3100-2900 BC)) — MDP 06, 5009. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P008194) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P008194..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.