Position in chronology
YOS 18, 082
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P142476.
Transliteration
2(disz) sila3 sag sze lu 1(disz) sila3 gazi 1/2(disz) sila3 gamun2 5(disz) sila3 gu2-tur-tur 2(disz) sila3 szum2-sikil 5(disz) sa szu-ha-ti 2(disz) ma-na SZIM saga sa2-du11 al-la iti szu-numun
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — YOS 18, 082. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Colgate University Libraries, Hamilton, New York, USA (P142476) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P142476..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.