Position in chronology
K 08637
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P238749.
Transliteration
[...] x-[...] [...] x-x-[...] [...] x x [x x] x x [...] [...] _nig2 ha-lam-ma_ [...] [ana _esz-bar an-ge6_ ka-la-ma _an-ta kan4 ki-ta_ iz-ku _mul-mesz] en-nun-ga2?-mesz an-ge6_ sin# [_igi_-ka] [_1(disz) ud-da_ sin ana sza gi-ne-e ud-du-mat _iti-bi an-ge6_ u2-kal _1(disz) ud-da utu3_ ana sza gi-ne-e] ud#-du-mat _iti-bi an-ge6#_ [u2-kal] [...] an-ni-a-am mu-du-u2 x [...] [...]-lil# la mu-du-u2 a#-[a i-...] [ta-mi-a-tum an-ni-a-tum e-nu-ma sin mit-lu-uk-ta-szu isz]-ku-nu _dingir-mesz_ sza _an_-e [u _ki_-tim] [ep-szet a-me-lu-ti tu-bu-ul-szu2-nu i-szi-im-ma] _an#-ge6_ ri-ih-s,u mu-tum _gal5-la2#-[mesz gal-mesz]_ [_imin-bi_ ma-har sin] ip-ta-nar-ri-[ku] [ki-i pi-i _le-u5-um_ sza _mu n-kam_ ...] _lugal_ babila sza ag-i-x-[x _in-sar_]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Neo-Assyrian (ca. 911-612 BC)) — K 08637. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: British Museum, London, UK (P238749) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P238749..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.