Position in chronology
AAICAB 1/2, pl. 162, 1974-581
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P248920.
Transliteration
1(asz) gu2 4(u)# 7(disz)# ma#-na# siki tug2 szar3 4(asz) gu2 1(disz) ma-na tug2 us2 szar3 1(u) 2(disz) gu2 4(u) 7(disz) ma-na tug2 3(disz)-kam us2 3(u) 2(disz) gu2 tug2 4(disz)-kam us2 () tug2 guz-za du 1(asz) gu2 1(u) 5(disz) ma-na siki# du# 1(asz) gu2 siki du ge6 [...] e2-zi na-gada szunigin# 5(u) 2(disz) gu2 5(u) ma-na siki# hi-a# siki ba-la2 u4 2(disz)-kam sza3 ki-nu-nir mu amar-suen lugal#-[e] ur-bi2-lum mu-hul
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — AAICAB 1/2, pl. 162, 1974-581. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format). [year-name] Dated to Amar-Suen y2 — Urbilum destroyed based on canonical year-name formula in the transliteration.
Attribution
Image: Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, UK (P248920) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P248920..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.