Position in chronology
CDLI Literary 000573, ex. 001
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P414092.
Transliteration
lugal gu4 igi gun3 su6 za-gin3 la2-mu-ur2 u3-na-du11 alan ku3-sig17 u4 du10-ga tu-da za-e# dim2-ma-zu dumu an-na-me-en ur-saga ARAD2-zu na-ab#-be2#-a tukum-bi lugal-ga2 [an-na-kam] e2 ad-da lu2 nam-ba-ab?-tum3#? lugal-mu he2-en-zu
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Babylonian (ca. 1900-1600 BC)) — CDLI Literary 000573, ex. 001. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: National Museums Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK (P414092) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P414092..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.