Position in chronology
AMT pl. 051 11
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P400215.
Transliteration
[...] _masz-masz gig tin_ [...] [...] dan#?-na-a-szu2 [...] _[ka] inim#-ma_ szum-ma _masz-masz_ [...] _[du3-du3]-bi# ki-gar_ tu-qad-dasz# [...] [x x] gi# sza2 IM x [...] [x x] x ina _masz-sila3 2(gesz2) 3(u)_ [...] [x x] x sza2 _id2 igi#_ [...] [x x] x _nun bar_ ina _ugu#_ [...] _[]geszimmar# nita_ ina x [...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Neo-Assyrian (ca. 911-612 BC)) — AMT pl. 051 11. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: British Museum, London, UK (P400215) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P400215..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.