Position in chronology
CDLI Literary 000584, ex. 001
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P356232.
Transliteration
[lu2-tur igi-zu-sze3 al-durun]-u3-nam [e2-dub-ba-a-ta na]-ab#-ta-e3 [na-an-ga-ma lu2] na#-me [lul i-ri-ib]-sa6-ge [ugu ad-da-na]-sze3 [ga-am3-gen] a-ra-ab-be2-en-ma [en-na geszkim ge26-e] u3# za-e [KA i3-bal-en]-da-na! [lu2 mu-e-szi-in]-gi4-gi4-ma [lu2-tur szu nam-bi2]-bar#-re [silim-ma bi2]-tuku [a-ma-ru]-kam
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Babylonian (ca. 1900-1600 BC)) — CDLI Literary 000584, ex. 001. 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 (P356232) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P356232..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.