Position in chronology
TJDB pl. 52, MAH 16457
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P424218.
Transliteration
_5(u) 3(asz) 3(ban2) gur zu2-lum_ _banesz_ nam-ha-ar-ti _mu-kux(DU)_ iszkur-dingir nam-ha-ar-ti a-hu-szu-nu _szandana_ _iti ab-ab-e3 u4 1(u)-kam_ _mu_ sa-am-su-i-lu-na _lugal-e alan tukul sag3-ge_ a-hu-szu-nu dumu si2-ia-tum# ARAD [nin-si-an-na]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Babylonian (ca. 1900-1600 BC)) — TJDB pl. 52, MAH 16457. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Musée d’Art et d’Histoire, Geneva, Switzerland (P424218) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P424218..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.