Position in chronology
RTC 206
Translation · reference
ExperimentalSource: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P216978.
Why it matters
Transliteration
2(gesz2) 7(disz) gesz gal 2(gesz2) gesz us2 4(gesz2) 4(u) gesz e2-da 8(gesz2) gesz zi-nu2 8(gesz2) gesz eme-sig 2(gesz2) gesz mi-ri2-za 1(gesz2) 1(u) gesz bar-da gesz nam-ga-esz8 gu2-ab-ba-ta lu2 nina szu ba-ti
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Lagash II (ca. 2200-2100 BC)) — RTC 206. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P216978) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P216978..
Related tablets
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.