Position in chronology
TMH NF 1-2, 036
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P134348.
Transliteration
1(u) 4(disz) gin2 ku3-babbar ur5-sze3 masz2 5(disz) gin2 1(disz) gin2-ta ki lugal-a2-zi-da-ta lu2-gir-gi4-lu u3 nin9-gu4-gu4 dam-ni szu ba-ti-esz2 1(disz) lu2-inanna 1(disz) lugal-a-ad-da 1(disz) tul2-ta 1(disz) tul2-ta dumu lugal-he2-gal2 1(disz) a-ad-da-mu 1(disz) ad-da-kal-la lu2-inim-ma-bi-me iti szu-numun-a u4 2(u) 3(disz) ba-zal mu en unu en inanna masz2-e ib2-pa3
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — TMH NF 1-2, 036. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Hilprecht Collection, University of Jena, Germany (P134348) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P134348..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.