Position in chronology
RINAP 5/1 Ashurbanipal 009, ex. 096
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P422703.
Transliteration
[...] x [...] [...]-tu2 sza2 ul-lu-[...] [...]-reb# unu u2-[...] [x] e2-hi-li-an-na sza ta#-[x x] [x]-szar#-mi3-szi _bara2_ da#-[...] _[x]-mesz#_ u3 szal-lat [...] [...]-bit# an-szar2 sin utu en [x x] [...] _nina#?_ [x] szar#-rat#-kid#-[...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Neo-Assyrian (ca. 911-612 BC)) — RINAP 5/1 Ashurbanipal 009, ex. 096. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: British Museum, London, UK (P422703) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P422703..
Related tablets
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.