Position in chronology
TJA pl.54, IOS 23
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P134117.
Transliteration
3(ban2) 6(disz) sila3 sze-numun lu2-szara2 engar 1(esze3) GAN2 a-ra2 2(disz)-kam ur-e2-an-na engar 1(esze3) GAN2 a-ra2 1(disz)-kam 4(disz) gurusz al 5(disz) sar-ta a-sza3 ma-nu 1(esze3) GAN2 a-ra2 2(disz)-kam ur-suen zu 6(disz) gurusz |ZI&ZI|-sze3 sze 4(u) sar-ta a-sza3 us2-sa igi-zi ugula ur-mes gurum2 ak u4 1(u) 5(disz)-kam iti szu-numun mu hu-hu-nu-ri ba-hul
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — TJA pl.54, IOS 23. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Institute of Oriental Studies, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK (P134117) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P134117..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.