Position in chronology
NMSA 4102
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P342106.
Transliteration
4(disz) gurusz u4 5(disz)-sze3!(KU) [x]-da gi la2-a u3# zi ma2-a si-ga sza3 [a]-pi4#-sal4 [...]-sze3 da-[...] x [...]-da u3 nibru-ta ma2 gur-ra u4 2(u) 2(disz)-sze3 ugula da-a-ga x kiszib3 ur-igi-nun-bi-sze3 mu ur-bi2-i3-lum ba-hul ur-igi-nun-bi-sze3 dumu lugal-e2-mah-e
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — NMSA 4102. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: National Museum of Syria, Aleppo, Syria (P342106) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P342106..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.