Position in chronology
BuB 2, 05
Translation · reference
ExperimentalSource: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P214925.
Why it matters
Transliteration
1(asz@c) amar-su4 dumu mu-ni ugula nigar dumu e2-sza3 nu-banda3 ur-dumu im-e si-sa2 szum2-de3 i3-sar 7(disz@t) mu 3(disz@t) iti
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — BuB 2, 05. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation (P214925) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P214925..
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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.
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.