Position in chronology
Prag 664
Translation · reference
ExperimentalSource: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P359261.
Why it matters
Transliteration
[...] a-szur-[ta]-ak-la2-[ku] _dumu#_ a-la2-hi-im [a]-na 3(disz) ha-am-sza-tim i-sza-qal / szu-ma la2 isz-qu2-ul 1(disz) 1/2(disz) _gin2-ta_ a-na 1(disz) _ma-na_-im i-na _iti-kam_ s,i2-ib-tam2 u2-s,a-ab2 / _iti-kam_ kan2-bar-ta-an li-mu-um a-szur-i-mi3-ti2 ma-la2-hu-um i-na t,up-pi3-im sza 1(u) 1/3(disz) _ma-na ku3-babbar_
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Assyrian (ca. 1950-1850 BC)) — Prag 664. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic (P359261) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P359261..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.