Position in chronology
NATN 416
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P121114.
Transliteration
2(disz) udu niga 1(disz) sila4 niga nig2-gu7-a 6(disz) udu niga gu4-e-us2-a 1(u) 3(disz) udu u2 1(disz) masz2 masz-da-re-a nig2-ezem-ma szu-numun-ka ki lugal-sze3 ba-an-kux(KWU636) szunigin 2(u) 2(disz) udu 1(disz) masz2 hi-a ki du11-ga-ni-zi ba-zi iti szu-numun-a u4 1(u) 4(disz) zal-la mu us2-sa ki-masz2 ba-hul mu ab-us2-sa
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — NATN 416. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA (P121114) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P121114..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.