Position in chronology
RINAP 3/1 Sennacherib 004, ex. 081
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P450323.
Transliteration
[...] har#-[x] [...]-bi#-ba pat-ti-isz [...]-nam#-mir _gin7_ u4-me [...] ti-tur-ru [...] asz2-tak-ka-nu [...] ah-ra-tasz [...]-a-tu i-lab-bi-ru-ma en-na-hu# [...]-ri-bi-szu i#-szem-[x] [...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Neo-Assyrian (ca. 911-612 BC)) — RINAP 3/1 Sennacherib 004, ex. 081. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: British Museum, London, UK (P450323) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P450323..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.