Position in chronology
AAICAB 1/3, pl. 181, Bod A 08
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P248971.
Transliteration
8(asz) 1(barig) sze gur kiszib3-bi 3(disz)-am3 i3-dub guru7 nin-gir2-su-ta szunigin 8(asz) 1(barig) gur [sza3]-bi#-ta [2(barig)] 3(ban2) 5(disz) sila3 sze-ba iti 1(disz)-kam iti 1(u) 2(disz)-sze3 sze-bi 6(asz) 1(barig) gur szunigin 6(asz) 1(barig) gur zi-ga la2-ia3 2(asz) gur nig2-ka9-ak ur-ba-ba6 mu en inanna masz2-e# i3-pa3 ur-ba-ba6 dumu lu2-nin-[...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — AAICAB 1/3, pl. 181, Bod A 08. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, UK (P248971) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P248971..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.