Position in chronology
OIP 121, 289
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P124019.
Transliteration
7(disz) gu4 3(disz) ab2 3(u) udu 4(u) udu szimaszgi 3(u) masz2-gal 1(gesz2) 4(u) masz2-gal szimaszgi ki ab-ba-sa6-ga-ta puzur4-er3-ra sanga utu larsa i3-dab5 iti ezem-mah mu en-unu6-gal inanna unu ba-hun 1(u) gu4 3(gesz2) 2(u) udu
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — OIP 121, 289. 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 (P124019) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P124019..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.