Position in chronology
CBS 07560
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P262561.
Transliteration
5(ban2) 4(disz) sila3 ansze 6(disz) sila3 ansze-edin-na 1(ban2) eme5? 4(barig) gu4 niga 1(ban2) udu niga 1(barig) udu-nita 3(ban2) masz2-gal 9(disz) szah2 niga 1(ban2) szah2 ze2-eh-tur 4(disz) sila3 dara3-masz 1(asz) 2(barig) 1(ban2) 3(disz) sila3 iti ki 6(disz)? sig4-a! u4 3(u)-kam mu us2-sa i3-si-in in-dab5-ba
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Babylonian (ca. 1900-1600 BC)) — CBS 07560. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA (P262561) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P262561..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.