Position in chronology
UCP 09-04, 17
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P248027.
Transliteration
a-na wa-tar-utu qi2-bi2-ma um-ma i3-li2-ip-pa-al-sa3-ma utu u3 a-a x li-ba-al-li-t,u2-u2-ka a-nu-um-ma suen-im-gur-ra-an-ni _1(u) 2(disz) ma-na uruda szar2-a_ il-qi2-a-am a-na s,e#-[ri]-ka# at,-t,ar-da#-ak#-[ku-um] _uruda_ [...] x [...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Babylonian (ca. 1900-1600 BC)) — UCP 09-04, 17. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Hearst Museum of Anthropology, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA (P248027) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P248027..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.