Position in chronology
UET 6, 0381
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P346425.
Transliteration
ga-am3-du11 a-na am3 szu ba-ni-in-ti nam-ba-an-du11-ga-asz a-na-am3 ba-ab-diri nig2 ni2-gu10 ba-an-dul-dul a-na am3 ki-sze-er ba-ab-gar aq-bi mi-nam el-qe2 E2 aq-bi mi-nam u2-wa-ta-ar sza ra-ma-ni-i-a u2-ka-at-ti-im-ma mi-nam a-na ku-szi-ri-im asz-ku-un
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Babylonian (ca. 1900-1600 BC)) — UET 6, 0381. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: British Museum, London, UK (P346425) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P346425..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.