Position in chronology
JAC 29, 023-030 02
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P478822.
Transliteration
1(disz) sila3 tu7 1(disz) ku6# puzur4#-iszkur lu2 kin-gi4-a lugal u4 |BAD3.AN|-ta ki lugal-sze3 ba-gen-na-a 1(disz) sila3 tu7 1(disz) ku6 szu-suen lu2 kin-gi4-a-lugal u4 erin2 zah3 ARAD2 e2-gal dab5-ba-de3 im-gen-na-a zi-ga iti ezem-szul-gi mu hu-uh2-nu-ri ba-hul u4 2(u) 7(disz)-kam
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — JAC 29, 023-030 02. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: private: anonymous, Jerusalem (P478822) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P478822..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.