Position in chronology
OIP 121, 592
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P124322.
Transliteration
3(gesz2) 6(disz) ul ku3#-sig17# si-sa2# ki-la2-bi# 6(disz)# gin2 igi-3(disz)-gal2 suhub2 kesz2#-ra2#-de3 ki lugal-ku3-[zu]-ta# szu-esz18-dar lu2 x x szu ba-ti# giri3 nu#?-ur2#?-i3-[li2?] sza3# puzur4#-[isz]-da#-[gan] iti ezem-me#-ki#-[gal2] mu hu-uh2#-[nu]-ri# ba-hul
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — OIP 121, 592. 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 (P124322) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P124322..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.