Position in chronology
RINAP 4 Esarhaddon 018, ex. 001
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P393949.
Transliteration
[...] ip-tu#-[u ...] [... tu-ut-tu]-szu2-ma ta-asz2-[szu2-szu2 a-na _lugal_-ti ...] [... _lugal_ kib-rat _limmu2_]-tim mi-[gir _dingir-mesz gal-mesz_ ...] [...] musz-te-e'-u2 asz2-[rat _dingir_-ti-szu2-nu _gal_-ti ...] [...]-zi e2-a _lugal zu-[ab_ ...] [... esz]-re-e-ti mu-[...] [... sza _dingir-mesz kur-kur_ szal-lu-u-ti a-na asz2-ri-szu2-nu u2]-ter-ru-ma u2-szar-ma-[a pa-rak da-ra-a-ti ...] [... _sa2-du11_ gi]-nu-u u2-kin-nu# [qe2-reb-szin ...] [...]-szu2-nu _dingir-mesz gal-mesz_ [...] [... u2-sze]-ri-bu u2-sze-szi-bu [...] [... sza] _du3 erin2-mesz_ ki-din-ni ma-la ba-[szu2-u ...] [... la ip-par]-ku-u2 i-na-as,-s,a#-[ru u4-mu _dingir_ esz-sze-e-szu ...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Neo-Assyrian (ca. 911-612 BC)) — RINAP 4 Esarhaddon 018, 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 (P393949) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P393949..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.