Position in chronology
HLC 262 (pl. 123)
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P110136.
Transliteration
2(u) 4(disz) udu 8(disz) masz2 sza3-bi-ta 3(disz) udu-gal 2(u) 1(disz) udu-nita2 4(disz) masz2 kiszib3 ba-a dumu he2-sa6 4(disz) masz2 inim nig2-u2-rum-ta [szunigin] 2(u) 4(disz) udu [szunigin x] masz2 [mu]-kux(DU) [...] sanga e2 uru11
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — HLC 262 (pl. 123). No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA (P110136) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P110136..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.