RIME 4.01.04.04, ex. 06

~1953 BCE·Old Babylonian·P427812

Translation · reference

Experimental

Source: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P427812.

Why it matters

Transliteration

en-an-na-tum2-ma
en ki-ag2 nanna
en nanna
sza3 uri5-ma
dumu isz-me-da-gan
lugal ki-en-gi ki-uri

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Early Old Babylonian (ca. 2000-1900 BC)) — RIME 4.01.04.04, ex. 06. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format). [year-name] Dated to Išme-Dagan y1 — Išme-Dagan became king based on canonical year-name formula in the transliteration.

Attribution

Image: British Museum, London, UK (P427812) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P427812..

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The earliest historical document in human history.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.