TMH 05, 140

~2400 BCE·Early Dynastic·P020554

Translation · reference

Experimental

Source: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P020554.

Why it matters

Transliteration

3(asz@c) masz-ti-HAR
1(u@c) u2-hab2 x geszimmar-da
lugal-kisal-si
lugal unu
1(u@c) KID-DU-|GIR2xASZGAB| sa
1(asz@c) lal3 nig2-banda3
2(barig@c) u2-hab2 gur
mes-kalam-si
dumu-lugal
giri3-ni-ba-dab5
lu2 u5
unu-ke4
in-ne-de6

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340 BC)) — TMH 05, 140. 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 (P020554) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P020554..

Related tablets

Related sources

~3200 BCE

Proto-Cuneiform Account Tablet

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.

~3500 BCE

Kish Tablet

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.

~2450 BCE

Stele of the Vultures

The earliest historical document in human history.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.