Position in chronology
RINAP 4 Esarhaddon x1016, ex. 001
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P400267.
Transliteration
_za3_ [...] _ub#? sze? tu2#?_ [...] x x [... _sila4-mesz_] szuk#-lu-lu-te sza2 la i-szu-u ti-rik# [s,u-ul-me ...] ul# u2-pat-ti sza2 _dumu-mesz hal-mesz#_ [pal-ka-a ha-si-sun2 t,up-pi asz2-t,ur e-ri-im] ab#-ri-<im> a-din-szu2-nu-ti ul as,-[lul kal mu-szi ...] [u2]-qa#-a'-a nam-ru _en en-en_ [utu ...] [a-na] szu#-te-szur de-e-ni ni-isz# [qa-ti na-szi-ma ...] [u2-s,al]-li# utu u iszkur en-qu-u-te [_dumu-mesz hal_ u2-szak-me-sa sza2-pal-szu2-un] a#-di qa-tu u2-kin-nu ib-ru-u2 x [...] szu-te-mu-qu szap-ta-a-a pal-ha-ku#? [...] im#-tal-li-ku i2-gi3-gi3 ip-ru-su# [...] [_uzu]-mesz#_ ti-kil-ti szal-mu-u-te [...] [x x] x-ni utu u iszkur szu-[...] [...] x-ka i-be-el _kur_ x [...] [...] x x x [...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Neo-Assyrian (ca. 911-612 BC)) — RINAP 4 Esarhaddon x1016, 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 (P400267) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P400267..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.