Position in chronology
DP 039
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P220689.
Transliteration
6(gesz2@c) la2 7(asz@c) sze gur saggal 3(gesz2@c) 1(u@c) 3(asz@c) ziz2 babbar2 5(u@c) 3(asz@c) gu2-nida 1(u@c) gig szu-nigin2 1(gesz'u@c) 1(u@c) la2 1(asz@c) gur saggal GAN2 ki-ti szuku en-e-tar-zi ensi2 lagasz-ka ki-ti gesz be2-ra ur-szer7-da mu-na-bala 4(|ASZxDISZ@t|)
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340 BC)) — DP 039. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P220689) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P220689..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.