Position in chronology
SET 182
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P129592.
Transliteration
1(asz) 2(barig) 3(ban2) zi3 gur lugal 4(barig) 3(ban2) 4(disz) sila3 sze sa2-du11 szu-a gi-na 1(barig) 1(ban2) 5(disz) sila3 ziz2 2(barig) 2(ban2) 4(disz) sila3 sze nig2-diri ezem-ma e2 szu-tum-ta ki ARAD2-ta ur-ma-mi szu ba-ti iti szu-numun mu us2-sa ki-masz mu us2-sa-a#-bi
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — SET 182. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum, San Jose, California, USA (P129592) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P129592..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.