Position in chronology
Subartu 12, 216
Translation · reference
ExperimentalSource: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P274192.
Why it matters
Transliteration
[...] x 1(asz@c) _nig2#_ 8(barig@c)# szu#-bu3-da/ir3#-tum# n 2(asz@c) _sipa eme3#_ 6(asz@c)# _nig2_ 8(barig@c) 3(ban2@c) _sipa ansze tur_ 3(asz@c) szu [...] _aslag4#_ 5(asz@c) [_nig2_] n 3(barig@c)
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ebla (ca. 2350-2250 BC)) — Subartu 12, 216. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: National Museum of Syria, Der-ez-Zor, Syria (P274192) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P274192..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.