Position in chronology
Orient 16, 072 099
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P124715.
Transliteration
3(u) 3(barig) 2(ban2) 6(disz) 1/2(disz) sila3 gur iti 1(u) 2(disz)-kam 2(asz) 2(barig) 7(disz) sila3 gur iti diri sa2!(KI)-du11 nun-gal ki ka-guru7-ta kiszib3 asz-a lu2-dingir-ra mu si-ma-num2 ba-hul ur-sa6-ga dumu ur-[...] [...] inanna
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — Orient 16, 072 099. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: World Museum Liverpool, Liverpool, UK (P124715) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P124715..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.