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Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — AAICAB 1/4, Bod S 385. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Economy
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — AAICAB 1/2, pl. 109, 1937-084. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Economy
3 talents 11 minas of top-quality wool — weighed out. Deficit: 29 minas. Lu-Dumuzi. 3 talents 34 minas — [weighed out]. [...] x [...] Wool of sheep [...] Ur-Abba, governor. Year: Ur-Namma, the king, put the road in order from the lowlands to the highlands.
Economy
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — AAICAB 1/2, pl. 115, 1951-077. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Economy
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — AAICAB 1/2, pl. 135, 1971-332. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Economy
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — AAICAB 1/3, pl. 233, Bod S 231. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Economy
The oldest surviving law code in human history. The principle that the state — not the wronged family — defines and enforces justice begins here.
Law
Commemorates E-iginim-pa'e of Adab's construction of the E-mah temple for the goddess Diĝir-mah, attesting royal building piety and the foundation-peg ritual at one of Sumer's lesser-documented city-states.
Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth
Predates Hammurabi by roughly 150 years, recording Lipit-Eštar's mandate from An and Enlil to 'establish justice' — an early articulation of the Mesopotamian ideology that divine authority underwrites royal law-giving.
Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth
Records Ur-Imma's temple construction for Damgalnuna at Adab under the administrator Lugal-ayaĝu, attesting early Ur III institutional religion: a slave-born temple builder rewarded with divine favour for his family's welfare.
Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth
Dedicatory inscription of Lugal-kisalesi attests a king ruling both Uruk and Ur simultaneously, documenting a rare dual kingship in the late Early Dynastic–Ur III transitional period.
Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth
Attests a royal child holding the office of temple administrator (šabra) at Keš, documenting how Ur III kings extended dynastic control over provincial sanctuaries through direct family appointments.
Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth
Royal building inscription of Sin-kašid attesting his dual titles — king of Uruk and of the Amnanum tribe — evidence that Amorite chieftains ruled major Sumerian cities in the Isin-Larsa period.
Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth
Attests Sin-kašid's dual title — king of Uruk and king of the Amnanum tribe — anchoring his otherwise poorly documented dynasty within both civic and tribal power structures of post-Ur III Babylonia.
Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth
Attests Sin-kašid's dual role as builder of Uruk's great Inana temple (the E-ana) and of his own palace, anchoring his reign within the tradition of legitimacy-through-temple-construction.
Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth
A dedicatory inscription to Inana naming an otherwise obscure Ur III ruler or official named Tulili — one of the few epigraphic traces anchoring this individual within the Sumerian royal tradition.
Religion & MythWriting & Literature
A fragmentary Ur III royal inscription (ETCSRI Q008910) in which a ruler names an object or structure as a prayer-formula addressed to a goddess — attesting the dedicatory naming convention that wove piety directly into monumental or votive language.
Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth
Dedicates a votive bowl to Ninlil for the well-being of Ur-Enlil, ruler of Nippur — attesting a local ruler otherwise poorly documented in the Ur III administrative record.
Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth
Dedicates a votive offering to Enlil at Nippur, attesting the ritual obligations by which Ur III rulers legitimised their authority through the great state sanctuary.
Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth
Attests a Ur III military governor's temple-building at Patibira for the goddess Ninšešeĝara — localising otherwise poorly documented Sumerian religious patronage below the royal tier.
Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth
Votive dedication of a mace by the governor of Lagaš to Šul-šagana, child of the city-god Ninĝirsu — attesting the personal piety and divine patronage networks through which Ur III provincial rulers legitimised their authority.
Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth
Dedicatory inscription naming Ur-zage as king of Kiš attests a Sumerian ruler otherwise poorly documented, adding a data point to the contested royal succession of the Ur III period.
Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth
A weight-stone inscription certifying a 15-shekel standard in Ninĝirsu's name: direct physical evidence that Iri-kagina enforced metrological authority through dedicated cultic weights at Ĝirsu.
Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth
Names Bau as the divine authority who installed Iri-kagina (Urukagina) in office — corroborating the reformer king's ideological claim that his rule, and his celebrated social reforms, derived from divine mandate rather than conquest.
Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth
Names Iri-kagina (Uruinimgina) as king of Lagaš alongside a named wall-guard captain — corroborating the civic-military administration documented in his celebrated reform inscriptions.
Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth
Names Iri-kagina (Urukagina) as king of Lagaš alongside a named wall-guard captain, attesting the military-administrative personnel of the city during the reign famous for history's earliest recorded social reforms.
Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth
Names Iri-kagina (Urukagina) as king of Lagaš and records a wall-guard appointment — administrative evidence from the reign of the ruler whose reforms are the earliest known attempt to codify social justice.
Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth
Names the wall-guard captain Urdu under Iri-kagina (Urukagina) of Lagaš: a rare administrative snapshot of military garrison command in the city credited with history's earliest recorded social reforms.
Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth
Names a wall-guard captain under Iri-kagina (Urukagina) of Lagaš, adding a rare administrative title to the prosopography of the ruler whose reforms are the earliest social-justice legislation known.
Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth
Names a city-wall guard captain under Iri-kagina (Urukagina) of Lagaš — administrative detail anchoring the ruler's security apparatus during the reform period that preceded Lugalzagesi's conquest.
Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth
Names a city-wall guard captain under Iri-kagina (Urukagina) of Lagaš, adding a rare prosopographic data point to the reign of the ruler credited with history's earliest recorded social reforms.
Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth
Names the captain of Lagaš's city-wall guard in Iri-kagina's fifth regnal year, supplying a rare dated administrative snapshot of urban military organisation in the Early Dynastic III period.
Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth
Names Iri-kagina (Urukagina) as king of Lagaš and assigns city-wall guards a pastoral role — a concrete fragment of the administrative vocabulary behind his celebrated reform edicts.
Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth
A votive inscription in which a temple scribe dedicates an offering vessel to Ninlil on behalf of multiple named individuals, attesting the personal piety and social networks of literate cult personnel in the Ur III temple economy.
Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth(1) For Diĝir-mah, E-iginim-pa-e, ruler of Adab, ..., builder of the E-mah.
Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth(colophon 1, 1) The inscription on its socle. (colophon 2, 1) The inscription .... This statue ....
Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth(colophon 1, 1) The inscription on its socle. (colophon 2, 1) The inscription on his shoulder. (colophon 3, 1) Tablet with 3 inscriptions (from) the statues of Erridu-pizir.
Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth(1) Gan-kunsig, erešdiĝir priestess of Pabilsaĝ.
Economy(1) To Šul-šagana, her personal god, Geme-Bau, erešdiĝir priestess of Bau, dedicated this for her life.
Religion & MythWriting & Literature(1) When Šara became glorious, and Barag-irnun, spouse of Ĝiša-kidug, king of Umma, child of Ur-Luma, king of Umma, descendant of En-akale, king of Umma, daughter-in-law of Il, king of Umma, built a holy dais for Šara of the E-mah, then she presented Šara with this (object) for the E-mah for her well-being.
Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth(1) Dada, the governor of Šuruppag, (and) Hala-adda, the governor of Šuruppag, his child, strenghtened the gate of Sud with walls.
Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth(1) To Šul-šagana, the beloved child of Ninĝirsu, her master, Ḫala-bau, the spouse of Lugal-irida, dedicated this (mace) for her well-being.
Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth(1) For Utu, lord of heaven and earth, his master. (3) Hammu-rapi, who was appointed by An, who makes himself heard by Enlil, the favourite of Utu, the beloved shepherd of Marduk, the powerful king, king of Babylon, king of Sumer and Akkad, king of the four quarters, the king who renovated all the sanctuaries of the great gods, when Utu gave him the rule over Sumer and Akkad and entrusted their nose-rope into his hands, then for Utu, the lord who supports him, he built the E-babbar, his beloved temple in Larsam, (Utu’s) city of lordship.
Law(1) For Inana of Zabala, the lady whose fearsome radiance covers heaven and earth, his lady. (5) Hammu-rapi, who was appointed by An, who makes himself heard by Enlil, the favourite of Utu, the shepherd who makes Marduk's heart happy, the prince beloved by Inana, the powerful king, king of Babylon, king of Sumer and Akkad, king of the four quarters, the king who renovated all the sanctuaries of the great gods, when Inana, who makes the omens favourable for him, gave him the rule over Sumer and Akkad and entrusted their nose-rope into his hands, then for his beloved Inana, he built the E-zi-kal…
Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth(1) Utu, the great lord of heaven and earth! Keep your obedient prince, Hammu-rapi, alive!
Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth(1) Aya, lady of the Ebabbar! Keep your obedient prince, Hammu-rapi, alive!
Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth(1) For Idattu, grandchild of Ebarat, child of Kindattu, Utu's shepherd, Inana's beloved, king of Anšan, king of the Šimaškians and Elam, Kiten-rakittapi, the grand vizier of Elam and chancellor, his servant, fashioned this (bowl).
Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth(1) To Ningal, the divine lady of Urim, Kuda, the temple administrator of Inan, devotee of Utu, ....
Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth(1) Nineša, en-priestess of Meš-saĝĝa-Unuga, child of Lugal-sila.
Economy(1) ... Bau, the kind woman, the šhild of An, the lady of Iri-kug, ....
Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth