Position in chronology
CDLI Literary 000799, ex. 012
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P346295.
Transliteration
ur-mah-e ud5 hu-na mu-ni-dab5 szu# ba-am3 u8 tab-ba-gu10 gur4-ra [ga]-mu-ra-ab-szum2 tukumbi# szu mu-un-szi-bar-re-en [...] du11-ma-ab ud5-e ur-mah-e [...]-ib-gi4-gi4 za-e mu-gu10 nu-zu [...]-ak# mu-gu10 u4 e2-tur3-ra-sze3 i3#-[...] [...]-na#?-gu10 gu3 mu-na-de2-e# [...] gu3#? ri-a mu-na-ni-ib-gi4#-[...] [...] udu# hi-a nu-dur2-ru-na e-[sze]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Babylonian (ca. 1900-1600 BC)) — CDLI Literary 000799, ex. 012. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: British Museum, London, UK (P346295) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P346295..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.