Position in chronology
Nisaba 32, 191
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P325927.
Transliteration
6(disz) gurusz sza3-gu4 5(ban2) sze 5(ban2) zu2-lum-ta# 3(disz) a2 1/2(disz) [3(ban2)] sze 1(ban2) zu2-lum-ta sze-bi 1(asz) 1(barig) 3(ban2) gur zu2-lum 1(asz) 3(ban2) gur sze-ba sza3-gu4 ki ARAD2#-mu-ta ur-[x]-x-ke4 szu ba-[an?]-ti iti kin-inanna [mu] dumu munus lugal ensi2# za-ab-sza-li ba-an-tuku [...] dub-[sar] dumu pa3-da#
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — Nisaba 32, 191. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Department of Near Eastern Studies, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA (P325927) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P325927..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.