TLB 05, 01

~1950 BCE·Old Babylonian·P283629

Translation · reference

Experimental

Source: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P283629.

Why it matters

Transliteration

6(disz) sila3 i3-gesz
a-ra2 1(disz)-kam
mu TUG2-GAN2@t-sze3
ki tug2-du8
4(disz) sila3 i3-gesz
nig2-<gu3>-de2 gesz-kin-ti
a-ra2 2(disz)-kam
sza3-dub-kam
ki li-bur-be-li2-ta
kiszib3 nanna-ki-ag2!
iti gan-gan-e3
mu a-sza3 gibil a-ta de6-a
u4 2(u) 3(disz)-kam
1(ban2) i3-gesz

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Early Old Babylonian (ca. 2000-1900 BC)) — TLB 05, 01. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).

Attribution

Image: de Liagre Böhl Collection, Netherlands Institute for the Near East, Leiden, Holland (P283629) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P283629..

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The earliest historical document in human history.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.