Position in chronology
Nik 1, 037
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P221744.
Transliteration
6(bur3@c) 2(iku@c) GAN2 sze 1(bur3@c) 2(esze3@c) 3(iku@c) 1/2(iku@c) 1/4(iku@c) GAN2 ziz2 babbar2 3(iku@c) GAN2 2(u) sar GAN2 gig 3(u@c) 5(asz@c) sar sze NE-GI-bar szu-nigin2 8(bur3@c) 3(iku@c) 1/4(iku@c) GAN2 sze gig ziz2 GAN2 a-limmu2 DISZ 2(u) 1/2(disz) 3(disz@t) gi kusz3 3(disz@t) sag sa2 1(asz) 3(u) 1/2(disz) 5(disz@t) gi us2 sa2 GAN2-bi 1(bur3@c) 1(esze3@c) 2(iku@c) da-UD-NE 5(bur3@c) la2 1/2(iku@c) GAN2 sze 1(bur3@c) 2(esze3@c) GAN2 ziz2 babbar2 GAN2 ki UL nu-tuku szubur nu-banda3 mu-gid2 1(|ASZxDISZ@t|)
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340 BC)) — Nik 1, 037. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation (P221744) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P221744..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.