Position in chronology
CST 672
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P108189.
Transliteration
3(ban2) sze sza3-gal ansze 6(disz) sila3 sze e2-ta izi la2-a 1(ban2) a2 nagar hun-ga2 3(ban2) a-ga2-la2 kesz2-ra2 kal-la e2 szara2-sze3 6(disz) sila3 sza3-gal szah2 zi-ga didli
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — CST 672. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: John Rylands Library, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK (P108189) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P108189..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.