Position in chronology
HLC 176 (pl. 105)
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P110051.
Transliteration
3(u) 1(asz) 4(barig) 5(ban2) 7(disz) zi3 sig15 gur lugal 4(gesz2) 5(u) 2(asz) 3(barig) 1(ban2) 1(disz) 1/3(disz) sila3 dabin gur 3(u) 1(asz) 1(barig) sze gur ki lu2-nin-szubur-ta ur-isztaran szu ba-ti iti ezem-szul-gi mu sza-asz-ru-um ba-hul#
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — HLC 176 (pl. 105). 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 (P110051) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P110051..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.