Position in chronology
CDLJ 2009/2 §4.6
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P384806.
Transliteration
4(disz) gukkal 1(disz) udu a-lum 3(disz) masz2-gal ir-du10-mar-tu 1(disz) sila4 lugal-a2-zi-da szabra 1(disz) sila4 ri-ib-hu-ti 1(disz) sila4 en inanna u4 2(u) 2(disz)-[kam] mu-kux(DU)# in-ta-e3#-[a] i3-dab5 giri3 nanna-ma-ba dub-sar iti a2-ki-ti mu szu-suen lugal 1(u) 1(disz)
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — CDLJ 2009/2 §4.6. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format). [year-name] Dated to Šu-Suen y1 — Šu-Suen became king based on canonical year-name formula in the transliteration.
Attribution
Image: Special Collections, Robert Manning Strozier Library, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, USA (P384806) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P384806..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.