Position in chronology
OIP 115, 184
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P123554.
Transliteration
1(disz) asz2-gar3 niga lu2-nanna 2(disz) sila4 en inanna 1(disz) sila4 niga ad-da-kal-la 1(disz) asz2-gar3 niga ur-nin-gal 1(disz) u8 sila4 nu2-a niga ge6-na-mu 1(disz) sila4 niga ur-nin-gubalag mu-kux(DU) iti a2-ki-ti mu ki-masz u3 hu-ur2-ti ba-hul u4 7(disz)-kam
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — OIP 115, 184. 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 (P123554) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P123554..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.