Position in chronology
RIME 1.14.14.01, ex. 05
About this tablet
A royal dedicatory inscription of Lugal-kiginedudu, an Early Dynastic ruler of Uruk (mid-third millennium BCE), carved on a stone vessel found at Nippur, the holy city of the god Enlil. The king boasts that Enlil personally chose him and granted him a rare double office: the 'en-ship' (priestly lordship) of Uruk combined with the kingship of Ur. This is one of the earliest surviving political claims to rule over two great Sumerian cities at once, and the vessel itself was likely a gift deposited in Enlil's temple. The piece survives only as joined fragments, and the closing dedication formula is lost.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
When the god Enlil gave me his true call and combined two offices in my hands — the high priesthood together with the kingship — I took up the priestly lordship in Uruk and the kingship in Ur. I, Lugal-kiginedudu, in great joy... — here the stone breaks off; the missing end would have dedicated this vessel to Enlil, the king's beloved lord.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine[When En]lil [truly] called him, and joined for him the en-ship together with the kingship, in Uruk he exercises the en-ship, in Ur he exercises the kingship — Lugal-ki[gine]-du[du], with great [joy ...] (remainder broken)
Our translation engine — Fable 5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Spotted an error? Suggest a correction — confirmed corrections feed the engine's knowledge base.
Transliteration
[u4 en]-lil2#-le#? [gu3]-zi# e-[na]-de2#-a nam#-en nam-lugal-da e-na-da#-tab-ba-a# unu-ga nam-en# mu-ak-ke4 uri5-ma# nam-lugal mu-ak-ke4# lugal-ki#-[gen]-ne2-du7-[du7-de3] nam#-gal#-[hul2-la-da]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340 BC)) — RIME 1.14.14.01, ex. 05. This record has no stored scholarly English translation; the existence of published translations has not been checked; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA (P247693) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
Related tablets
Related sources
An early example of administrative writing from Uruk. Its fragmentary numerical entries and commodity signs document record-keeping during the formative period of writing.
An early witness to systematic administrative notation at Kish. Its signs and numerals can be catalogued, but that does not establish a full translation or prove that it is the world's first writing.
An early surviving historical monument that joins named rulers, a territorial dispute and religious oaths. It shows how a city-state turned victory into a lasting public claim, without establishing that this was the first recorded conflict.