Position in chronology
Berens 095
Translation · reference
ExperimentalSource: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P273534.
Why it matters
Transliteration
1(u) gin2 ku3-babbar sa10-am3 a-ab-ba nam-ha-ar-ti ib-ni-[iszkur] ugula nam-5(disz) nig2-szu utu-an-dul3# ugula dam-gar3 larsa# a-na-en-ki-ta-[ki-il] ugula mar-tu giri3 dumu-er-s,e-tim u3 a-pil-utu dumu-mesz i-ba-tum kin-inanna u4 2(u)-kam mu sa-am-su-i-lu-na lugal i7 sa-am-su-[i-lu]-na-na-qa2-ab-nu-uh-szi
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Babylonian (ca. 1900-1600 BC)) — Berens 095. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format). [year-name] Dated to Samsu-iluna y1 — Samsu-iluna became king based on canonical year-name formula in the transliteration.
Attribution
Image: Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, Ireland (P273534) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P273534..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.