RIME 4.01.06.01, ex. 01

~1950 BCE·Old Babylonian·P427988

Translation · reference

Experimental

Source: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P427988.

Why it matters

Transliteration

[ur-nin-urta]
[sipa nig2-nam il2]
[nibru]
[na-gada]
[uri5-ma]
[iszib szu sikil]
[eridu]-ga#
[en sze]-ga#
[unu]-ga#
[lugal i3-si]-in#-na
[lugal ki]-en-gi ki-uri
[dam] igi# il2#-la
inanna

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Early Old Babylonian (ca. 2000-1900 BC)) — RIME 4.01.06.01, ex. 01. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).

Attribution

Image: British Museum, London, UK (P427988) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P427988..

Related tablets

Related sources

~3200 BCE

Proto-Cuneiform Account Tablet

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.

~3500 BCE

Kish Tablet

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.

~2450 BCE

Stele of the Vultures

The earliest historical document in human history.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.