Position in chronology
TMH NF 1-2, 219
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P134530.
Transliteration
6(disz) 1/2(disz) gin2 siki ga-rig2 ak nig2-lam2 us2 szar3 iti NE-NE-gar-ra 8(disz) gin2 siki ga-rig2 ak nig2-lam2 us2 szar3 szunigin 1(u) 4(disz) 1/2(disz) gin2 siki ki ur-tum-al-ta e2-nin ba-an-kux(KWU636) maszkim lugal-ma2-gur8-re iti kin-inanna mu hu-uh2-nu-ri ba-hul
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — TMH NF 1-2, 219. 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 (P134530) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P134530..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.