Position in chronology
CDLJ 2012/1 §4.22
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P416410.
Transliteration
1(gesz2) 1(u) la2 1(disz@t) udu niga 1(disz) masz2-gal niga 2(gesz2) 4(u) 3(disz) udu 4(gesz2) 3(disz) masz2-gal u4 1(u) 3(disz)-kam ki ab-ba-sa6-ga-ta a-hu-we-er i3-dab5 iti ezem-an-na mu hu-uh2-nu-ri ba-hul 7(gesz2) 5(u) 6(disz) udu
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — CDLJ 2012/1 §4.22. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts, USA (P416410) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P416410..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.