Position in chronology
RIME 4.02.08.05, ex. 01
Translation · reference
ExperimentalSource: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P345487.
Why it matters
Transliteration
nu-ur2-iszkur nita kal-ga engar zi uri5-ma lugal larsa-ma me esz3 e2-babbar-ra ku3-ku3-ge eridu u4 ul-li2-a-ta szu mu-un-hul-a-ba bala nig2-si-sa2-mu-usz du3-de3 al bi2-du11 en-ki-ke4 ki-tusz ku3 ki-ag2-ga2-ni mu-na-du3 gesz-hur ul-li2-a-ka-ni ki-be2 mu-na-gi4
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Early Old Babylonian (ca. 2000-1900 BC)) — RIME 4.02.08.05, 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 (P345487) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P345487..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.