Position in chronology
Orient 16, 099 149
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P124751.
Transliteration
la2 1(disz) sila3 kasz 6(disz) sila3 ninda 6(disz) gin2 i3 sa2-du11 u4 3(disz)-kam a-ra2 1(disz)-kam la2 1(disz) sila3 kasz 6(disz) sila3 ninda 6(disz) gin2 i3 a-ra2 2(disz)-kam ku-ru-tur-sze gen-na zi-ga iti ezem-li9-si4 mu en-nun-e-ki-ag2
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — Orient 16, 099 149. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: World Museum Liverpool, Liverpool, UK (P124751) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P124751..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.