Position in chronology
Aleppo 495
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P100827.
Transliteration
1(u) ha-zi-in ki-la2-bi 8(disz) 1/2(disz) ma-na kin dub2-ba ki da-da-ga-ta ur-szara2-ke4 in-la2 mu si-mu-ru-um lu-lu-bu a-ra2 1(u) la2 1(disz)-kam ba-hul ur-szara2 dub-sar dumu lugal-uszur4
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — Aleppo 495. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: National Museum of Syria, Aleppo, Syria (P100827) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P100827..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.