Position in chronology
SumRecDreh 30
Translation · reference
ExperimentalSource: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P130527.
Why it matters
Transliteration
3(disz) gu4 niga zi-ga lugal 1(disz) udu niga gu4-e-us2-sa kiszib3 hal-li2-a 3(disz) udu dub lu2-sza-lim ki ur-szu-ga-lam-ma-ta lu2-nin-gir2-su szu ba-an-ti iti ezem-me-ki-gal2 mu i-bi2-suen lugal lu2-nin-gir2-su dub-sar dumu ur-sa6-ga sipa gu4 niga
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — SumRecDreh 30. 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: private: anonymous, New York, New York, USA (P130527) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P130527..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.