Position in chronology
OIP 121, 006
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P123737.
Transliteration
2(disz) gu4 niga sag-gu4 2(disz) gu4 niga 1(disz) udu niga saga 1(disz) masz2-gal niga saga szimaszgi2 en-lil2 nin-lil2 nansze-GIR2@g-gal maszkim sza3 tum-ma-al iti u4 3(disz) ba-zal ki lu2-dingir-ra-ta ba-zi iti szu-esz-sza mu amar-suen lugal-e ur-bi2-lum mu-hul 5(disz)#
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — OIP 121, 006. 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: Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA (P123737) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P123737..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.