Position in chronology
RTC 347
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P128500.
Transliteration
1(ban2) kasz du lugal e-la-nu-id szesz lukur u3 a-gu-a aga3-us2-gal szi-ma-asz-gi5-ta du-ne-ne 1(ban2) 5(disz) sila3 kasz du u4 3(disz)-kam in#-na-s,i-ir dumu nu-banda3 a-dam-szah2-ta du-ni 4(ban2) 5(disz) sila3 kasz du u4 1(u) 1(disz)-kam lu2-szara2 aga3-us2-gal mu siki saga udu kur-ka-sze3 gen-na 5(disz) sila3 kasz du lugal-mas-su aga3-us2-gal szuszin-ta du-ni iti sze-sag11-ku5
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — RTC 347. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P128500) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P128500..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.