SA 196

Translation · reference

Experimental

Source: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P273665.

Why it matters

Transliteration

3(disz) gu4 ki-s,i-ir-nin-mar
3(disz) gu4 i3-li2-a-a-ba-asz
1(disz) gu4 dingir-szu-ib-ni-szu dumu ab-ab-du7
() 7(disz) gu4-hi-a iri asz-dub-ba
1(disz) gu4 a-pil-i3-li2-szu dumu tap-pa-ra?-bi larsa
2(disz) gu4 ku-um-bu-lum
2(disz) gu4 lu-mur-gi-mil-utu
() 4(disz) gu4 iri ku-ta-al-la
1(disz) gu4 i-bi-nin-szubur u3 er3-ra-da-pi-in
1(disz) gu4-hi-a bad3-tibir
szunigin 1(u) 3(disz) gu4-hi-a
iti kin-inanna ki-min
mu sa-am-su-i-lu-na lugal

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Babylonian (ca. 1900-1600 BC)) — SA 196. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format). [year-name] Dated to Samsu-iluna y1 — Samsu-iluna became king based on canonical year-name formula in the transliteration.

Attribution

Image: Special Collections and Archives, John T. Richardson Library, DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois, USA (P273665) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P273665..

Related tablets

Related sources

~3200 BCE

Proto-Cuneiform Account Tablet

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.

~3500 BCE

Kish Tablet

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.

~2450 BCE

Stele of the Vultures

The earliest historical document in human history.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.