Position in chronology
NMS A.1927.474
Translation · reference
ExperimentalSource: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P453093.
Why it matters
Transliteration
5(disz) udu u2 e2-muhaldim mu aga3-us2 u3 lu2 szuku-ra-ke4-ne-sze3 ARAD2-mu maszkim u4 1(u) 9(disz)-kam ki ur-ku3-nun-na-ta ba-zi giri3 hu-la-al-la iti ezem-an-na mu us2-sa szu-suen lugal uri5-ma-ke4 bad3 mar-tu mu-ri-iq-ti-id-ni-im mu-du3 5(disz) udu
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — NMS A.1927.474. 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: National Museums Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK (P453093) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P453093..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.