Position in chronology
OIP 115, 263
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P123526.
Transliteration
6(disz) masz2-gal nu-nu lu2 hu-bi-um 6(disz) masz2-gal bi2-bi2-a lu2 e-ru-ut 1(u) masz2-gal szu-ku8-bu-um lu2 sal-la-NE-wi ugula s,e-lu-usz-da-gan 4(disz) udu niga 1(disz) sila4 nanna-i3-sa6 2(disz) sila4 zabar-dab5 2(disz) sila4 nu-i3-da 2(disz) sila4 szesz-da-da sanga mu-kux(DU) na-sa6 i3-dab5 iti ezem-an-na mu us2-sa ki-masz ba-hul u4 2(u) 5(disz)-kam
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — OIP 115, 263. 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 (P123526) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P123526..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.