Position in chronology
KTT 022
Translation · reference
ExperimentalSource: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P392663.
Why it matters
Transliteration
1(asz) _gur!_ bi-za-tum# 1(disz) pa2-an bi-la2-zu-[(x)] 4(ban2) ta2#!-nu-a 2(ban2) ta2#!-ab-ni-esz18-dar# 2(ban2) sin-ha!-ar-da!-zu 4(ban2) bi-zi-na-<an?> 1(asz) _gur_ la2-ri2-im-a-'a3-ad! 4(ban2) a-PI-tum 1(disz) pa2-an sa2!?-bi!?-a-tum 3(ban2) la#?-asz?-a-na bi-za-tum
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Early Old Babylonian (ca. 2000-1900 BC)) — KTT 022. 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 (P392663) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P392663..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.