Position in chronology
DP 552
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P221202.
Transliteration
1(gesz2@c) 2(u@c) 6(asz@c) 1(barig@c) sze gur saggal puzur4-ma-ma 1(gesz2@c) 3(u@c) la2 1(asz@c) 1(barig@c) gala-tur engar-me 1(u@c) 6(asz@c) sze inim-ma-ni-zi lu2-szinig 3(u@c) 2(asz@c) 1(barig@c) sze en-u4-da-na szu-nigin2 3(gesz2@c) 4(u@c) 3(asz@c) 1(barig@c) sze gur saggal sze nig2-en-na GAN2 du5-uh2-ka-kam en-ig-gal nu-banda3 e2-ganba-ka-ka i3-si 5(|ASZxDISZ@t|)
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340 BC)) — DP 552. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P221202) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P221202..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.