Position in chronology
Išme-Dagan 05
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) When Išme-Dagan, the powerful man, king of Isin, king of the four quarters, cancelled the taxes on Nibru, Enlil's beloved city, and exempted its men from military service, then he built the great wall of Isin. (15) The name of this wall is: "With Enlil Išme-Dagan is strong".
Source: Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Royal Inscriptions (ETCSRI), University of Vienna, edited by Gábor Zólyomi et al. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/etcsri/Q001949/
Why it matters
Records Išme-Dagan of Isin's grant of tax exemption and military-service immunity to Nippur — a concrete example of how early second-millennium kings purchased Enlil's divine favor through civic privilege.
Transliteration
Scholarly note
Sumerian royal inscription, published in the Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Royal Inscriptions (ETCSRI) by Gábor Zólyomi and collaborators. Translation reproduced from the ETCSRI edition. ORACC text Q001949.
Attribution
Image: MS 4741 (Schøyen Collection, Oslo, Norway) — from uncertain (mod. uncertain) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P253771). source
Translation excerpted from Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Royal Inscriptions (ETCSRI), University of Vienna, edited by Gábor Zólyomi et al. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/etcsri/Q001949/.
Related tablets
Related sources
The earliest historical document in human history.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.
The oldest surviving law code in human history. The principle that the state — not the wronged family — defines and enforces justice begins here.
Not the first law code, but the most complete and the most famous. Inscribed on a black diorite stele over two meters tall, displayed in a public place — law made visible, law made monumental.