Position in chronology
CDLI Literary 002718.01, ex. 034
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P403131.
Transliteration
a-ma-a-ti im-tal-li-ku asz-szum _dingir_ bu-uk-ri-szu-un [...] pa#-a-szu i-pu#-[...] [...]-am-ma [...] [...]-esz la szup-szu#-[...] [...]-hal#-liq-ma [...] [...] lisz-sza2-[...] [...]-amat# an#-[...] [...]-uz#-[...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Neo-Assyrian (ca. 911-612 BC)) — CDLI Literary 002718.01, ex. 034. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: British Museum, London, UK (P403131) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P403131..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.