Position in chronology
CUSAS 11, 283
Translation · reference
ExperimentalSource: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P322884.
Why it matters
Transliteration
2(gesz2@c) 2(u@c) 3(asz@c) sze gur 1(bur3@c) GAN2-bi iti sze-sag-kal u4 7(disz@t) GAN2 mu#-nu11-mah [GAN2 gada-GAR-ib]-ni-suen#-kam
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — CUSAS 11, 283. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Department of Near Eastern Studies, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA (P322884) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P322884..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.