Position in chronology
CDLI Literary 000638, ex. 001
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P268477.
Transliteration
[...]-lam#-ma [...] [...]-bi2# sa6-sa6 [...] [...] ad# mu-un#-x [...]-me-en szesz-me x-[...] [...] e2# gal-la-me he2#-[me-en] [x x]-un#-si ma2-gur8-ra# [...] [x x] gigir-ra-me he2-[me-en] [...] x-sar#-re-me he2-[me-en] [...]-uru di ku5-ru!-me he2-me#-[en] [...] nig2# 5(ia2)# mu-sa2 nig2 x [...]-sa2# ad#-da#-ga2 he2#-[...] [...] gu2# zi#-me# he2-[...] [...] he2#-[...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Babylonian (ca. 1900-1600 BC)) — CDLI Literary 000638, 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 (P268477) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P268477..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.