TMH 05, 142

~2400 BCE·Early Dynastic·P020556

Translation · reference

Experimental

Source: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P020556.

Why it matters

Transliteration

1(gesz'u@c) 6(gesz2@c) la2 2(u@c) ur3
8(gesz2@c) u2-bil2
3(gesz2@c) e2-me-sig
szu-nigin2
2(gesz'u@c) 7(gesz2@c) ur3
kiri6-gi4
en-lil2-al6-sa6
an-na-szum2

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340 BC)) — TMH 05, 142. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).

Attribution

Image: Hilprecht Collection, University of Jena, Germany (P020556) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P020556..

Related tablets

Related sources

~3200 BCE

Proto-Cuneiform Account Tablet

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.

~3500 BCE

Kish Tablet

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.

~2450 BCE

Stele of the Vultures

The earliest historical document in human history.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.