Position in chronology
OTR 048
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P122983.
Transliteration
5(disz) sila3 kasz lu2 tukul lugal inim nimgir-an-ne2-zu-sze3 im-szi-gen-na lu2-giri17-zal maszkim giri3 ur-mes nu-banda3 iti munu4-gu7 mu si-mu-ru-um lu-lu-bu-um a-ra2 1(u) la2 1(disz@t)-kam-asz ba-hul
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — OTR 048. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Columbia University Library, New York, New York, USA (P122983) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P122983..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.