Position in chronology
TMH 05, 180
Translation · reference
ExperimentalSource: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P020594.
Why it matters
Transliteration
[...] lugal-kar [...] sag-en-lil2-da 7(asz@c) en-me-te-na 6(disz) lu2-tug2 amar-kun 6(disz) en-lil2-sipa 6(disz) KA-zi-da 6(disz) lugal-szud3 6(disz) [...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — TMH 05, 180. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Hilprecht Collection, University of Jena, Germany (P020594) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P020594..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.