Position in chronology
Prag 838
Translation · reference
ExperimentalSource: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P359393.
Why it matters
Transliteration
[3(disz) ha-am-sza-tim] i-sza-qu2-[lu szu-ma i-na] u4-me-szu-nu ma-al-u2-tim la2 isz-qu2-lu 1(disz) 1/2(disz) _gin2-ta_ a-na 1(disz) _ma-na_-im i-na _iti-kam_-im u2-s,u2-bu _iti-kam_ qa2-ra-a-tim li-mu-um bu-zu-zu _ku3-babbar_ i-qa2-qa2-ad szal2-mi3-szu-nu ra-ki-is szu-ma u2#-s,ur-sza-a-szur3 i-tal-kam-ma [...] x x
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Assyrian (ca. 1950-1850 BC)) — Prag 838. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic (P359393) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P359393..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.