Position in chronology
Princeton 2, 317
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P201316.
Transliteration
2(gesz2) 1(u) 1(disz) gurusz u4 1(disz)-sze3 ki-su7-ra a-sza3 i7 lugal gub-ba 1(gesz2) 3(u) 4(disz) gurusz u4 1(disz)-sze3 ki-su7-ra usz-gid2-da gub-ba 5(disz) gurusz u4 1(disz)-sze3 <a-sza> ugur2-tur gu2-edin-na a de2-a 5(disz) gurusz u4 1(disz)-sze3 kab2-ku5 i7 gibil gu2-edin-na szu-luh ak ugula ur-ku3-nun-na kiszib3 ur-ge6-par4 mu bad3 mar-tu ba-du ur-ge6-par4 dub-sar dumu a-a-kal-la
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — Princeton 2, 317. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, New Jersey, USA (P201316) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P201316..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.