Position in chronology
SA 151
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P128720.
Transliteration
1(szar2) 1(gesz'u) 5(gesz2) sa gi gu#-nigin2-ba 1(u) 6(disz) sa-ta [x] gil 4(disz) ur2 dal szutum2!(GI-NA-GA-AB-TUM)-ma kux(KWU147)-ra giri3 i3-ra2-ra2-a ugula# ukken-ne2 kiszib3 bi2-du11-ga gi SIG7-a ukken-ne2 iti pa4-u2-e mu ha-ar-szi u3 ma-da-bi u4 asz-a ba-hul bi2-du11-ga dub-sar dumu la-a-sa6
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — SA 151. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Institut Catholique, Paris, France ? (P128720) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P128720..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.