Position in chronology
OTR 041
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P122976.
Transliteration
2(asz) kasz dida du 2(ban2) 5(disz) sila3 zi3 lugal 1(u) 2(disz) gin2 i3-gesz elam an-sza-an-me 5(disz) sila3 kasz 3(disz) sila3 [zi3] 5(disz) gin2 i3 a-bu-ni sukkal uri5-sze3 du-ni iti munu4-gu7
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — OTR 041. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Columbia University Library, New York, New York, USA (P122976) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P122976..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.