Position in chronology
TCL 04, 089
Translation · reference
ExperimentalSource: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P357424.
Why it matters
Transliteration
t,up-pu-um sza 1(disz) _ma-na_ 1(u) 2(disz) _gin2_ _ku3-babbar_ i-la2-ka3-ma a-num i-mu-a-at _kiszib3_ a-la2-hi-im _dumu_ a-szur-ma-lik a-na szi-ik-ma-tim szu-esz18-dar u3 na-na
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Assyrian (ca. 1950-1850 BC)) — TCL 04, 089. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P357424) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P357424..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.