Position in chronology
RINAP 4 Esarhaddon 077, ex. 002
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P393940.
Transliteration
[...] _lugal_ kisz-sza2-ti _lugal kur_ [...] [...] _lugal kur eme-gi7_ u [...] [...]-ti u2-taq-qi2-nu u2-sze-s,i-szi-na-ti nu-[...] [...] e#-pe-szu2 ud-du-szu isz-ru-ku szi-[...] [...] e-pisz e2-sag-il2 u3 babila[] [...] ka-li-szu2-nu mu-ud-disz s,a-lam _dingir-mesz_ [...] [...] qe2-reb _kur_ asz-szur ana asz2-ri-szu2-nu u2-ter-[...] [...]-tar# sza limmu2-dingir be-el-ti-[...] [...]-me#-ru ki-ma u4#-[...] [...]-ri lah3-me ku-ri-[...] [...]-reb _ka2-mesz_-sza2 ul-[...] [...] u marduk _1(u)-5(disz)_ sza2 nina _1(u)-5(disz)_ sza [...] [...] szap#-li-ti i-sza2-risz it-tal-lak#-[...] [...]-szu#-te-e-szu2 u2-szak-ni-sza2 sze-[...] [...]-pi#-in# gi#-[...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Neo-Assyrian (ca. 911-612 BC)) — RINAP 4 Esarhaddon 077, ex. 002. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: British Museum, London, UK (P393940) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P393940..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.