Position in chronology
RINBE 1, Nebuchadnezzar II nn, ex. nn
Not yet translated
This tablet is catalogued with its transliteration and photographed, but no published translation exists yet. Our translation engine works through the untranslated corpus every night, oldest first — this page will update the day its turn comes. If you are a specialist and can read it, we would love your help.
From the same catalogue range (near P424461)
Transliteration
na3-ku-dur2-ri-u2-s,ur _lugal_ babila za-nin e2-sag-il2 u3 e2-zi-da _ibila_ a-sza-re-du sza na3-ibila-u2-s,ur _lugal_ babila
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Neo-Babylonian (ca. 626-539 BC)) — RINBE 1, Nebuchadnezzar II nn, ex. nn. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Spurlock Museum, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, USA (P424461) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P424461..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.