Position in chronology
KTT 300
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P392935.
Transliteration
1(asz) _gur_ 2(ban2) ha-ab-du-[...] _nig2-szu_ lu#-mu#-un-tum? 4(ban2) a-hu?-dingir 4(ban2) x x x 1(barig) 2(ban2) ia#-am-na#-nu 1(barig) 2(ban2) ia#-szu-ub#-el 1(disz) pa2-an bur-qa-an 1(disz) pa2-an ma-ma-ne2-ri n(ban2)# [...] n(ban2)# [...] n(ban2)# [...] _nig2-szu_ ba-di#-ia-an 1(disz) pa2-an a-hu#-ia-ha-ad# _nig2-szu_ za#-ku#-ra#-ha#-am-mu#
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Babylonian (ca. 1900-1600 BC)) — KTT 300. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: National Museum of Syria, Raqqa, Syria (P392935) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P392935..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.