Position in chronology
NMS A.1978.439
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P453063.
Transliteration
[1(gesz2@c)?] ninda# 1(asz@c) kasz 1(barig@c) 1(ban2@c)#? dug# 2(gesz2@c)#? kasz 4(ban2@c) dug ur-nin-tu 1(gesz2@c) ninda banszur? szu-i3-li2-su 1(gesz2@c) lu2-lugal-pa-e3 1(gesz2@c) ma2#-lah5 4(asz@c) nar mar-tu 5/6(disz) gurusz edin 2(u@c) la2 2(asz@c) lu2-ma2-gur8 ninda kum2?-x-ta? szunigin 3(gesz2@c) 3(u@c) 4(asz@c) ninda 5(u)? du8 1(asz@c)? kasz 1(barig@c)#? (n) dug 1(asz@c) kasz zi3 dug 4(ban2@c) 3(disz)#? sila3 zi3 a#-ga-de3 2(barig@c) sze kasz n mu 5(disz) iti 2(u) 5(disz) u4
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — NMS A.1978.439. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: National Museums Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK (P453063) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P453063..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.