Position in chronology
MVN 13, 123
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P116895.
Transliteration
3(disz) udu niga szu-suen-ha-ma-ti szu-i nin-lil2-ama-mu sukkal maszkim 1(disz) sila4 ga geme2-en-lil2-la2 lukur nin-urta puzur4-esz18?-dar? szu-i maszkim a2 ge6-ba-a u4 3(disz)-kam ki szul-gi-i3-li2-ta ba-zi giri3 lu2-nanna szar2-ra-ab-du iti ezem-me-ki-gal2 mu szu-suen lugal uri5-ma-ke4 ma-da za-ab-sza-li mu-hul 4(disz) udu
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — MVN 13, 123. 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: Free Library of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA (P116895) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P116895..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.