Position in chronology
UET 6, 0289
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P346354.
Transliteration
KA NIGIN2? du11-du11 lu2-lul-la-ra nin-abul#-la sag-a-ni bi2-in-x sa6-ga-ni hul-sze3 ba-da-gal2 igi-ni tesz2 la-ba-an-tuku szu-si egir!-a-ni mu-un-da-gal2 utu en nig2-gi-na ki ag2# nig2-erim2 ba-an-da-bur12 nig-gi-na gid2-da#? nam-tag dugud ib2-ta-x KA szu#? kal x im-da-szub-bu-de3#?
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Babylonian (ca. 1900-1600 BC)) — UET 6, 0289. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: British Museum, London, UK (P346354) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P346354..
Related tablets
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.