Position in chronology
RINAP 3/1 Sennacherib 004, ex. 049
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P422252.
Transliteration
[...] x x x [...] [...]-mu-u-a si-id#-[...] [...]-a-a a-di _en#_ [...] [...]-lu-la szal-la-su-un# [...] [...] szal#-la-ti am-nu si-it-tu#-[...] [...]-li-im-ma u2-sze-s,a#-[...] [...] _iri-mesz_-szu2 _e2 bad3-mesz#_ [...] [...]-ub szu-pi-i mit#-[...] [...] _kunga-mesz_ [...] [...]-li-im#-[...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Neo-Assyrian (ca. 911-612 BC)) — RINAP 3/1 Sennacherib 004, ex. 049. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: British Museum, London, UK (P422252) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P422252..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.