Position in chronology
CUSAS 43, 25
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P251826.
Transliteration
a-na s,i-li2-utu qi2-bi2-ma um-ma a-li-gi-mil-ma utu asz-szum-ia _mu szar2-kam_ li-ba#-al#-li-it,-ka isz-tu u4-mi-im sza a#-na# adab ta-al-li#-kam# x-pu-sza [x] x ku x x x 1(u) [x] x x x [x] i-pu#-szu-ma-a _1(gesz2) 2(u)_ ri# [x x] x it#?-ti-ka usz-te-ri-[x x x]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Babylonian (ca. 1900-1600 BC)) — CUSAS 43, 25. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Schøyen Collection, Oslo, Norway (P251826) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P251826..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.