Position in chronology
OIP 115, 050
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P123307.
Transliteration
3(disz) udu u8 2(disz) udu-nita2 3(disz) ud5 sa2-du11 be-la-at-suh-ne-er u3 an-nu-ni-tum iti sze-sag11-ku5 3(disz) udu-nita2 3(disz) ud5 1(disz) udu u8 1(disz) masz2-nita2 sa2-du11 be-la-at-suh-ne-er u3 an-nu-ni-tum iti masz-gu7-gu7 mu e2 puzur4#-isz-da-gan ba-du3
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — OIP 115, 050. 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 (P123307) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P123307..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.