RTC 219

Translation · reference

Experimental

Source: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P216991.

Why it matters

Transliteration

1(asz@c) nir3(ZA.NIM) a2-suh ku3-sig17 gar-ra
nin#-ku3-nun
1(asz@c) sze-er-gu pesz3
1(asz@c) sila3 lal3
1(asz@c) sila3 gesztin
1(barig@c) zu2-lum#
en
nin-gir2-su-igi-du maszkim
1(asz@c) tug2 mu-du8-um
e2-munus
zi-ga
szara2-i3-sa6

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Lagash II (ca. 2200-2100 BC)) — RTC 219. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).

Attribution

Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P216991) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P216991..

Related tablets

Related sources

~3200 BCE

Proto-Cuneiform Account Tablet

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.

~3500 BCE

Kish Tablet

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.

~2450 BCE

Stele of the Vultures

The earliest historical document in human history.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.