Position in chronology
RTC 007
Translation · reference
ExperimentalSource: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P010561.
Why it matters
Transliteration
1(asz@c) zi3@t ag2#? 2(u@c) sila3 zi3@t szum 1(u@c) sze naga4 ti-ra-asz2 1(barig@c) munu4 zi3 hal-hal 1(asz@c)# zi3@t naga4? en-ki 1(barig@c) ninda gi6 zi3@t 1(u@c) zi3@t gi6 szum ninda gi6 lugal 1(gesz2@c) 2(u@c) sze zi3@t sila3 1(asz@c) zi3@t sag8 an-ki 1(barig@c) NINDA@g-sag
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIa (ca. 2600-2500 BC)) — RTC 007. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P010561) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P010561..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.