Position in chronology
RIME 3/2.01.01.17, ex. 04
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P227100.
Transliteration
[]nanna# [dumu]-sag# [en]-lil2#-la2 [lugal]-a#-ni [ur]-namma nita# kal-ga lugal# uri5-ma lugal# ki-en-gi ki#-uri-ke4 [lu2 e2 ]nanna# [in]-du3#-a nig2-ul-li2-a-ke4 pa mu-na-e3 gaba a-ab-ka-ka ki-sar-a nam-ga-esz8 bi2-silim ma2 ma2-gan szu-na mu#-ni-gi4
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — RIME 3/2.01.01.17, ex. 04. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA (P227100) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P227100..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.