Position in chronology
Berens 094
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P273533.
Transliteration
sa10-am3 5(disz) 1/2(disz) gin2 ku3-babbar nig2-gu7 ku6 a-ab-ba nam-ha-ar-ti ib-ni-iszkur ugula nam-5(disz) ki a-na-en-ki-ta-ki-il ugula mar-tu nig2#-szu utu-an-dul3# ugula dam-gar3 giri3 nergal-dingir-szu sza!-pir um-ma-ni-im! NE-NE-gar u4 1(u) 5(disz)-kam mu i7 sa-am-su-[i-lu-na]-na-qa2-ab-nu-uh-szi
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Babylonian (ca. 1900-1600 BC)) — Berens 094. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, Ireland (P273533) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P273533..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.