Position in chronology
RTC 037
Translation · reference
ExperimentalSource: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P221434.
Why it matters
Transliteration
2(asz@c) gu2 a-dar-tun2 dar-ra 5(asz@c) sa |ZI&ZI.SZE3| agargara u2-du szu-ku6 a du10-ga-ke4 iti siki-ba-a mu-de6 en-ig-gal nu-banda3 e2-nig2#-[gur11]-ra-ka i3-kux(DU) bara2-nam-tar-ra dam lugal-an-da ensi2 lagasz-ka 4(|ASZxDISZ@t|)
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340 BC)) — RTC 037. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P221434) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P221434..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.