Position in chronology
BIN 08, 043
Translation · reference
ExperimentalSource: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P212619.
Why it matters
Transliteration
5(asz@c) 2(barig@c) sze gur 1(asz@c) bar-dul5 ku3 2/3(|NINDA2x(SZE.2(ASZ@c))|) ma-na-kam 1(asz@c) aktum ku3 2/3(|NINDA2x(SZE.2(ASZ@c))|) ma-na-kam 1(asz@c) nig2-lam2 bar gin2-kam 1(asz@c) nig2-lam2 igi 3(disz@t) gal2-kam 1(asz@c) 2(barig@c) sze gur 2(disz@t) ku3 gin2-kam mu nu-gal2-la-kam 1(asz@c) ku3 gin2 [x] 1(asz@c) ud5# [n] ku3# 2/3(|NINDA2x(SZE.2(ASZ@c))|) ma-na i7# [(x)] de6-a [...] x an-na-de6 1(asz@c) szu-ni-ra (x) tug2 gum dab5 [(...)]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340 BC)) — BIN 08, 043. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Nies Babylonian Collection, Yale Babylonian Collection, New Haven, Connecticut, USA (P212619) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P212619..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.