Position in chronology
MDP 06, 254
Translation · reference
ExperimentalSource: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P008049.
Why it matters
Transliteration
M157 , M374~c , 2(N01) M124 M391 M218~b# M295~wa [...] , [...] 4(N01) 3(N39B) 1(N24)#? [...] , 1(N14) 3(N01) 2(N39B) [...] M066 , 1(N14) 3(N01) 3(N39B) M218 M370 M219 M263 , 2(N01) M263 M242~b M096 , 5(N01) M386~a M242~b M096 , 1(N14) 2(N01) 2(N39B) [...] M352~n |M218+X|? , [...] M218# M295~ka M218 , 3(N01) M146# M380 M263 [...] , [...] [...] M218 M295~ka M218 , 3(N01) x , [...] , 2(N45) 2(N14) 3(N39B) 1(N24)
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Proto-Elamite (ca. 3100-2900 BC)) — MDP 06, 254. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P008049) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P008049..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.