Position in chronology
RIME 4.01.04.05, ex. add19
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P274116.
Transliteration
isz-me-da-gan nita kal-ga lugal i3-si-in-na lugal an-ub-da limmu2-ba-ke4 u4 nibru iri ki-ag2 en-lil2-la2 gu2-bi mu-un-du8 erin2-bi kaskal-ta ba-ra-an-zi-ga-a bad3-gal i3-si-in-na mu-un-du3 bad3-ba# isz-me-da-gan en-lil2-da a2-an-gal mu-bi-im
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Early Old Babylonian (ca. 2000-1900 BC)) — RIME 4.01.04.05, ex. add19. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: private: anonymous, Germany (P274116) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P274116..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.