TSU 026

~2036 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P135197

Translation · reference

Experimental

Source: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P135197.

Why it matters

Transliteration

1(disz) suhub2 du8-szi-a e2-ba-an
1(u) suhub2 gu-BULUG3-ba e2#-ba-an
[x ...] du8#-szi-a e2#-ba-an
[x ... e2]-ba#-an
kin# ak# [kal-la]-ma-ad
gaba-ri im kiszib3-a kiszib3 nu-ur2-i3-li2
[iti u5]-bi2-gu7
[mu us2]-sa szu-suen [lugal] uri5-ma-ke4# bad3 mar-tu
mu-ri-iq-ti-id-ni-im mu-du3

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — TSU 026. 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: Musées royaux d’Art et d’Histoire, Brussels, Belgium (P135197) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P135197..

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The earliest historical document in human history.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.