Position in chronology
CUSAS 16, 276
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P416186.
Transliteration
8(asz) 2(barig) 1(ban2) 8(disz) sila3 sze iti ezem-szul-gi 3(asz) 3(ban2) 4(disz) sila3 sze gur iti pa4-u2-e 2(u) 2(barig) 3(ban2) sze gur iti dumu-zi 1(u) 1(asz) 2(barig) 3(ban2) 5(disz) sila3 gur zi-ga kasz-de2-a giri3 la-mu sza3 e2-te!-na
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — CUSAS 16, 276. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Columbia University Library, New York, New York, USA (P416186) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P416186..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.