Position in chronology
UET 5, 0379
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P415259.
Transliteration
2(asz) sze gur szu-la2 ki iszkur-ba-ni gi-re-e szu ba-an-ti iti sig4-a sze i3-ag2-en# mu lugal-bi in-pa3 igi a-ap-pa-a DISZ im-gur-e2-a# DISZ ga-az-zu-u2 iti gu4-si-sa2 u4 9(disz)#?-kam [mu] ki#-sur-ra [(...)] in-[dab5]-ba#
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Babylonian (ca. 1900-1600 BC)) — UET 5, 0379. 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 (P415259) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P415259..
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.