Position in chronology
HLC 387 (pl. 147)
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P110256.
Transliteration
la2-ia3 6(gesz2) 4(u) 7(asz) 2(barig) 5(ban2) 3(disz) 2/3(disz) sila3 sze gur lugal lu2-gu-la dumu e2-ki-ag2 2(gesz2) 4(u) 9(asz) 3(ban2) 4(disz) sila3 gur ur-tur dumu ur-sa6-ga [...] gur la2-ia3 sze du-du-ka
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — HLC 387 (pl. 147). 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 (P110256) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P110256..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.