Position in chronology
OB Legal 045
Not yet translated
This tablet is catalogued with its transliteration and photographed, but no published translation exists yet. Our translation engine works through the untranslated corpus every night, oldest first — this page will update the day its turn comes. If you are a specialist and can read it, we would love your help.
The world it comes from
Hammurabi, the Epic of Gilgamesh, mathematics.
From the same catalogue range (near P258497)
Transliteration
_iti# ab-e3-a u4 7(disz)-kam#_ s,u2-ha-rum sza ip-qa2-[tum?] a-na szi-ip-ri-im i-ru#-[ub] _2/3(disz)# gin2 1(u) 5(disz) sze <ku3>-babbar_ ma#-hi-ir _igi-5(disz)-gal2 ku3-babbar_ ub-ba-la-am-ma-ma _iti 3(u)-kam i-pu-usz _igi_ lu2-mar-tu _dumu_ ri-isz-er3-ra _iti ab#-e3-a u4 8(disz)-kam_ _mu bad3 gal kar-utu u3# ra-pi2-qum lu2-mar-tu# dumu ri-isz-er3-ra ARAD AN mar-tu
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Babylonian (ca. 1900-1600 BC)) — OB Legal 045. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA (P258497) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P258497..
Related tablets
Related sources
The earliest historical document in human history.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.
The oldest surviving law code in human history. The principle that the state — not the wronged family — defines and enforces justice begins here.
Not the first law code, but the most complete and the most famous. Inscribed on a black diorite stele over two meters tall, displayed in a public place — law made visible, law made monumental.