Position in chronology
TJA pl.53, IOS 15
Translation · reference
ExperimentalSource: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P134109.
Why it matters
Transliteration
4(disz) udu bar-gal2 1(disz) masz2 udu gu2-na ur-e2-masz 1(asz@c) udu bar-su-ga lugal-za3-ge tir 1(asz@c) udu bar-gal2 inim-szara2 1(disz) masz2 lu2-nin-ur4-ra muhaldim sila-ta e3-a giri3 ab-ba-gi-na u4 sza3-nin-ga2 nibru-a mu-ti-la le-um-ma nu-ub-gi-in iti dumu-zi mu bad3 mar-tu ba-du3
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — TJA pl.53, IOS 15. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format). [year-name] Dated to Šulgi y37 — The Amorite wall was built based on canonical year-name formula in the transliteration.
Attribution
Image: Institute of Oriental Studies, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK (P134109) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P134109..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.