Position in chronology
AMT pl. 045 04
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P397595.
Transliteration
[...] x u2-ga-na-ah [...] [...] _gaba#?_ u _masz-sila3 gig_ [...] [... _gu2]-tur#? 1(disz) sila3 zi3 gig 1(disz) sila3 zi3_ [...] [...] tur _gin7_ rib-ki tara-bak ina# [...] [...] ud? as hu [...] [...] _sila3 gur2-gur2 1/3(disz) sila3_ [...] [...] x 1(disz) _sila3 zi3 sze-[sa-a?_ ...] [...] ina _kusz#_ [...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Neo-Assyrian (ca. 911-612 BC)) — AMT pl. 045 04. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: British Museum, London, UK (P397595) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P397595..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.