Position in chronology
KTT 134
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P392769.
Transliteration
1(asz) _a-gar3 sze_ 1(asz) _a-gar3 zi3_ _szu-ti-a_ suen-ri-s,u2-szu _iti_ na-ab-ri _u4 1(u) 2(disz)-kam_ li-mu iszkur-ba-ni
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Babylonian (ca. 1900-1600 BC)) — KTT 134. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: National Museum of Syria, Raqqa, Syria (P392769) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P392769..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.