CDLJ 2012/1 §4.24

~2036 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P416434

Translation · reference

Experimental

Source: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P416434.

Why it matters

Transliteration

4(disz) udu niga#
1(disz) [...]
szul#-gi-[...]
1(disz) sila4 szar-ru-[...]
1(disz) amar masz-da3 nita2
ib-ni-szul-gi#
u4# 2(u)#? 8(disz)#?-kam#
mu-kux(DU) lugal
in-ta-e3-a
i3-dab5#
giri3# nu-ur2-suen#
iti sze-sag11-ku5#
mu us2-sa szu-suen# lugal-e si-ma-num2 mu-hul#
6(disz) udu 1(disz) masz-da3

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — CDLJ 2012/1 §4.24. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format). [year-name] Dated to Šu-Suen y2 — Year after: Šu-Suen became king based on canonical year-name formula in the transliteration.

Attribution

Image: Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts, USA (P416434) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P416434..

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The earliest historical document in human history.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.