Position in chronology
AMT pl. 003 01
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P425553.
Transliteration
[...] x [...] _i3#-gesz# x a x isz x _sag-du_-szu2# [...] gi-na-a _szesz2-mesz_-su u _en2_ liq-bi [...] u2-li-in-na ina _sag-ki_-szu2# [...] a-di _i3-gesz bi_ i-gam-ma-ru ka [...] e-re-na _ma-nu_ sza2 ina na x [...] ina _sig2 asz2-gar3 gesz3-nu-zu_ [...] ina _gu2_-szu2 _gar_-ma [...] _en2 sa-sar_ x [...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Neo-Assyrian (ca. 911-612 BC)) — AMT pl. 003 01. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: British Museum, London, UK (P425553) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P425553..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.