Position in chronology
AAICAB 1/2, pl. 148, 1971-376
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P248888.
Transliteration
1(u) la2 1(disz@t) udu masz2 hi-a sa2-du11 szara2# umma diri-sze3 ba-sa6 ba-an-na-zi mu e2 puzur4-da-gan mu-kux(DU) ensi2!-ka ki# da#-da-ga# mu-gal2 mu us2#-sa# e2 puzur4-da-gan ba-du3 ka-giri3#? su-ga lugal-bad3 sipa u3 szara2-i3-sa6 sipa 3(u) 5(disz) udu 2(u) masz2 mu-kux(DU) ki-a sza3 a-pi4#-sal4 giri3 ur-[e11-e?] ugu2 ba-sa6# ba#-a#-gar
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — AAICAB 1/2, pl. 148, 1971-376. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, UK (P248888) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P248888..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.