Position in chronology
OIP 121, 279
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P124009.
Transliteration
3(u) 2(disz) gu4 niga 4(disz) gukkal 4(disz) udu a-lum 2(disz) sila4 a-lum 4(u) 3(disz) udu szimaszgi 5(disz) udu ge6 szimaszgi 1(gesz2) 3(u) masz2-gal szimaszgi 3(u) 2(disz) masz2-gal gun3#-a# szimaszgi u4 2(u) la2 1(disz)-kam ki ab-ba-sa6-ga-ta szul-gi-a-a-mu i3-dab5 iti ezem-mah mu en inanna unu ba-hun 3(u) 2(disz) gu4 3(gesz2) udu
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — OIP 121, 279. 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 (P124009) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P124009..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.