Position in chronology
OIP 115, 253
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P123622.
Transliteration
1(disz) gu4 masz-gu-la u4-da-tusz mu-kux(DU) sze-[el]-ha-ha lu2 ur-[]suen 1(disz) sila4 nin-an-sze3-la2 mu-kux(DU) lu2-nin-ga2 zabar-dab5 maszkim 5(disz) gu4 1(disz) ab2 5(disz) udu 2(u) 2(disz) u8 3(disz) sila4 1(disz) masz2 szu-gid2 e2-muhaldim-sze3 mu aga3-us2-e-ne-sze3 ARAD2-mu maszkim zi-ga u4 2(u) 8(disz)-kam iti ki-siki-nin-a-zu mu ki-masz u3 hu-ur5-ti ba-hul
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — OIP 115, 253. 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 (P123622) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P123622..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.