Position in chronology
PPAC 4, 235
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P332154.
Transliteration
3(barig) sze lugal lu2-ga-mu 3(barig) ur-isztaran 1(asz) 2(barig) gur lugal sa2-du11 ansze diri 2(barig) sa2-du11 ansze 2(ban2) szah2 niga 1(ban2) szah2 u2 1(ban2) 3(disz) sila3 uz-tur iti sze-sag-ku5 [ki] ur-nigar
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — PPAC 4, 235. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Couvent Sainte-Anne, Jerusalem (P332154) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P332154..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.