TLB 05, 09

~1950 BCE·Old Babylonian·P283625

Translation · reference

Experimental

Source: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P283625.

Why it matters

Transliteration

1(disz) ma-na nig2-u-nu-a ze2-ba-tum
gesz-gid2-da-asz
1(ban2) esir2-e2-a
4(disz) ma-na nig2-u-nu-a siki-ud5
gu4-si-dili-sze3 u3 ZA AN bu-ga-nu-um
1(disz) ma-na sze-gin2
1(disz) kusz masz2-gal
gu2-e3-sze3
4(disz) ma-na nig2-u-nu-a siki-ud5
isz-bi-er3-ra-i-ni-ib-an-ni-im
u4 2(u) 6(disz)-kam
iti bara2-za3-gar
mu us2-sa bad3 li-bur-isz-bi-er3-ra ba-du3 mu us2-sa-bi

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Early Old Babylonian (ca. 2000-1900 BC)) — TLB 05, 09. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).

Attribution

Image: de Liagre Böhl Collection, Netherlands Institute for the Near East, Leiden, Holland (P283625) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P283625..

Related tablets

Related sources

~3200 BCE

Proto-Cuneiform Account Tablet

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.

~3500 BCE

Kish Tablet

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.

~2450 BCE

Stele of the Vultures

The earliest historical document in human history.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.