NMSA 4134

~2028 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P342120

Translation · reference

Experimental

Source: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P342120.

Why it matters

Transliteration

1(disz) hu?-um#? szu du7-a ig x [x] murux(|KID.SZU2.MA2|)!
1(u) 5(asz) gu2 esir2#? had2#? u3 zi?-a#?-ta#? kid# ri#? x
2(disz) u3#-suh5 x ma2-da la2 gid2-bi 1(disz) ninda 4(disz) kusz3-ta
8(disz) x geszimmar gid2-bi# 3(disz)# kusz3-ta
ma2-gur8 a-kal-la ensi2-ka-ta gar-ra#?
ki gu-du-du-ta
lu2-sa6-i3-zu
szu ba-ti
mu i-bi2-suen lugal
lu2-sa6-i3-zu
dub-sar
dumu a-kal-la

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — NMSA 4134. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format). [year-name] Dated to Ibbi-Suen y1 — Ibbi-Suen became king based on canonical year-name formula in the transliteration.

Attribution

Image: National Museum of Syria, Aleppo, Syria (P342120) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P342120..

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The earliest historical document in human history.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.