Position in chronology
NYPL 124
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P122660.
Transliteration
9(asz) gu2 4(u) 6(disz) 2/3(disz) ma-na sa gu4 udu ba-usz2 na4 1(asz) gu2 1(disz) 2/3(disz) ma-na-ta ki sipa unu3 kuruszda u3 lu2 didli-e-ne-ta e2-kiszib3-ba-sze3 ba-an-kux(KWU147) iti masz-da3-gu7-ta iti diri sze-sag11-ku5-sze3 iti 1(u) 3(disz)-kam mu si-mu-ru-um u3 lu-lu-bu a-ra2 1(u) la2 1(disz)-kam-asz ba-hul
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — NYPL 124. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: New York Public Library, New York, New York, USA (P122660) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P122660..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.