Position in chronology
RINAP 4 Esarhaddon 011, ex. 001
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P422122.
Transliteration
[...] _lugal szu2 lugal kur_ asz-szur _szagina_ babila2 _lugal kur eme-gi7_ u uri [...]-ri# ka-la-ma i-du-u2 [...]-x-bat [...]-na-a-bi [...] [...]-szu2-nu la szu-un-ne2-e [...]-ia ina li-i-ti ki-szit-ti _szu-min_ [...] e-ma lib3-bi i-qab-bu-u la-be-el la-asz2-pur [_...]-mesz_-e-a sza2 3(u) utu ut-tu-szu-u2-ma [...] _ug3-mesz_ i-nam-bu-u zi-kir-szu2 e-nu-ma esz-re-e-ti sza-ti-na [...] en-na-ha an-hu-us-si-na lu-ud-disz [...] _mu_-ia li-mur-ma _i3-gesz_ lip-szu-usz _siskur bal_-qi2 szu-mi3 it-ti _mu_-szu2 lisz-t,ur [...] 3(u) u utu _iti_-szam-ma la na-par-ka-a liq-bu-u _saga-mesz_-szu2 [...] _gar-kur_ hal-ni-gal-bat
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Neo-Assyrian (ca. 911-612 BC)) — RINAP 4 Esarhaddon 011, ex. 001. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: British Museum, London, UK (P422122) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P422122..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.