Position in chronology
RA 075, 087 11
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P128031.
Transliteration
1(disz) ur-li 1(disz) ur-szul-pa-e3 [...] 1(disz) ma ku3 [x] un sze gi 3(u) lu2 kin-gi4-a SU i-ri-ib# [x] na lu2-[...] [...] [...] 1(disz) x x [...] 1(disz) lugal-zi#? [...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — RA 075, 087 11. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: College de France, Paris, France (P128031) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P128031..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.