Position in chronology
Whitman 2
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P416492.
Transliteration
3(disz) 2/3(disz) sila3 i3-szah2 giri3 da-a-ga szabra ki a-kal-la-ta ugu2 ur-e11-e ba-a-gar kiszib3 ur-szara2 sza13-dub-ba mu ha-ar-szi ki-masz ba-hul ur-szara2 dub-sar dumu lugal-uszur4
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — Whitman 2. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Penrose Library, Whitman College, Walla Walla, Washington, USA (P416492) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P416492..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.