Position in chronology
AJSL 32, p. 271 no. 4
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P333349.
Transliteration
a-na u2-ba-a-a-tum qi2-bi2-ma um-ma _utu_-ga-mil-ma a-na szi-gi-il-ti i3-li2-tu-ra-am a-sza-al-ka ki-ma ta-qa2-bu-u2-ma i-ma-ga-ru-ka i3-li2-tu-ra-am iq-bi-a-am qi2-bi2-ma du-ub-bu-ub-ta-am la# i-ra#-asz-szi an#-ni-am# e-pe-sza-am e-li-ka i-szu-u2
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Babylonian (ca. 1900-1600 BC)) — AJSL 32, p. 271 no. 4. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA (P333349) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P333349..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.