Position in chronology
CST 850
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P108357.
Transliteration
5(disz) sila3 kasz saga 3(disz) sila3 ninda 2(disz) gin2 i3 2(disz) gin2 naga 1(disz) ku6 1(disz) sa szum2 a-hu-ni 1(disz) kasz dida 5(disz) sila3 kasz saga# 3(disz)# sila3# ninda 2(disz) gin2 i3 2(disz) gin2 naga 3(disz) ku6 3(disz) sa szum2 szu-ma-ma szunigin 1(disz) kasz dida du szunigin 1(ban2) kasz saga szunigin 1/2(disz) n ninda szunigin 4(disz) gin2 i3 szunigin 4(disz) gin2 naga szunigin 4(disz) ku6 kun-zi szunigin 4(disz) sa szum2 u4 1(u) la2 1(disz)-kam iti sze-kar-ra-x-gal2 mu en eridu ba#-hun
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — CST 850. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: John Rylands Library, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK (P108357) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P108357..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.