Position in chronology
ASJ 15, 139 07
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P330238.
Transliteration
1(disz) [sila4] ensi2 urumx(|UR2xU2|) 2(disz) sila4 ensi2 gu2-du8-a 1(disz) sila4 1(disz) masz2 en inanna 1(disz) masz2-gal szimaszgi2 1(disz) sila4 s,e-lu-usz-da-gan mu-kux(DU) [iti ezem]-an-na mu en nanna masz2-e i3-pa3 u4 2(u) 1(disz)-kam
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — ASJ 15, 139 07. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA (P330238) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P330238..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.