Position in chronology
OIP 115, 317
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P123242.
Transliteration
[n x]-nita2 [4(disz) x] udu niga 2(disz) udu a-lum niga 1(disz) sila4 niga 6(gesz2) 4(u) 2(disz) udu 1(disz) sila4 2(gesz2) 3(u) 2(disz) masz2-gal mu-kux(DU) lugal ki na-sa6-ta en-dingir-mu i3-dab5 iti szu-esz-sza mu us2-sa ki-masz u3 hu-ur5-ti ba-hul
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — OIP 115, 317. 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 (P123242) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P123242..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.