Position in chronology
Nik 1, 124
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P221893.
Transliteration
5(asz@c) sze gub-ba gur 2(disz@t) UL en-ne2 tug2-du8 inim-en-lil2 engar-ra e-na-ag2 3(barig@c) 2(ban2@c) sze inim-en-lil2 e2-mes-zi-da-ka a-mes-ra e-na-ag2 5(asz@c) 1(barig@c) 1(ban2@c) sze ansze gu7 inim-en-lil2 a-mes-ra e-na-ag2
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340 BC)) — Nik 1, 124. 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 (P221893) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P221893..
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.
A window into the world's first total state. The Ur III administration tracked every animal, every worker, every shekel — for a population in the millions. The level of paperwork was not exceeded until the modern era.