Position in chronology
UET 3, 0257
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P136574.
Transliteration
3(disz) giri3-lam zu2-lum 3(disz) sila3-ta e2 nanna-sze3 1(disz) ka2 1(disz) ha-ia3 1(disz) ki gu-za 1(disz) ma2 szu-nir an-na-ka a2 ge6-ba-a [...] x 3(disz) nanna-sze3 a2 u4-te-na sza3 uri5-ma u4 1(disz)-kam zi-ga esz3-esz3 lugal iti sze-sag11-ku5 mu us2-sa bad3-gal ba-du3 mu us2-sa-bi
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — UET 3, 0257. 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 (P136574) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P136574..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.