Position in chronology
TCBI 1, 051
Translation · reference
ExperimentalSource: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P382303.
Why it matters
Transliteration
2(asz@c) la2 3(ban2@c) sze gur lugal-he2-gal2 szita-iri x-du8-sze3 an-na-szum2 iti du6-ku3 iti <ga2>-udu-ur4 sze zi-ga ur-nin-mug kingal-kam
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — TCBI 1, 051. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Banca d'Italia, Rome, Italy (P382303) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P382303..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.