Position in chronology
Fs Lenoble 166, no. 27
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P387650.
Transliteration
4(disz) al a-tu5-a lugal-sze3 ki lu2-igi-sa6-sa6-ta kiszib3 bi2-du11-ga sza3 bala-a mu lu-lu-bu-um si-mu-ru-um a-ra2 1(u) la2 1(disz@t)-kam ba-hul bi2-du11-ga dub-sar dumu la-a-sa6
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — Fs Lenoble 166, no. 27. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: American University of Beirut Archaeological Museum, Beirut, Lebanon (P387650) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P387650..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.