Position in chronology
OBTI 140
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P369570.
Transliteration
1(u) _gur sze_ suen-ri-me-ni# _dumu?_ bur!-utu 4(barig) _gur_ [...] suen#-ri#-me-ni AN x x MU# 2(HAL) 2(barig) _gur# sze_# a#-na# _nar_ 1(disz) s,u-ha-rum sza _iti-2(disz)-kam_ [...]-tu# _iti_ ki-nu-nim a#-di _iti_ tam-hi#-ri suen-ri-me-ni ma-hi-ir 2(HAL) _gur sze e2#-dub_ _bad3_-mu-di suen-ri-me-ni ma-hi-ir _iti_ tam#-hi-ri _szu-nigin2_ 1(u) 5(u) 1(barig) _gur sze#_ 3(u)-ri-me-ni ma-hi-ir#
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Babylonian (ca. 1900-1600 BC)) — OBTI 140. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA (P369570) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P369570..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.