Position in chronology
CDLI Literary 000764, ex. 020
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P346665.
Transliteration
[...] x x [...] BUR2#-bi im-me# [...]-na-ni-ib2-gi4-gi4# [... su]-ul#-su-ul [...] sal-sal [...]-bi ka-bi sza3-gal-gal u4 szu2-szu2 [...] x zi mu-e-da-an-ir-re [...] x-la RI-RI#? nu-ga2-ga2 [...] x-zukumx(|ZI&ZI.MIN|)-zukumx(|ZI&ZI.MIN|) [...]-x-tar [...] x x x [...]-gin7 amar-x-[...] [... mu]-un-gar [...]-gul#-gul [... mu]-un-bur12 [...]-gaz-[gaz] [...]-mi#-in#-[...] [...] mu#-[...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Babylonian (ca. 1900-1600 BC)) — CDLI Literary 000764, ex. 020. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: British Museum, London, UK (P346665) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P346665..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.