Position in chronology
KTT 322
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P392957.
Transliteration
[...] x x x [...] x x x [...] _gur#?_ 1(barig) n(ban2)#? [...] [...] x 4(disz) [...] n(ban2) _sze_ 4(disz) _lu2_ [...] x 4(disz) [...] x ra? [(x)] [...] _sze sza3#-[gal] n ud5#? hi-a_ [n] _gur#_ 3(ban2) _sze sza3#-gal gu4#?_ [...] [...] _sze# sza3#-gal ansze#-hi-[a]_ [...] [...] x x x [...] _e2#?_ ma#-ri#-i#? [...] _gu4 hi-a_
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Babylonian (ca. 1900-1600 BC)) — KTT 322. 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 (P392957) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P392957..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.