Princeton 2, 459

~2037 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P201458

Translation · reference

Experimental

Source: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P201458.

Why it matters

Transliteration

1(u) 4(disz) geme2 u4 4(disz)-sze3
ki-su7 uku2-nu-ti
bala-a-ri-ka-ta
umma-sze3 sze ma2-a
si-ga ma2 gid2-da
u3 ma2 ba-al-la
ugula? ur-nin-tu
kiszib3 lu2-gi-na
iti sze-kar-ra-gal2-la
mu [szu]-suen# [lugal]
lu2-gi-na
dub-sar
dumu da-da

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — Princeton 2, 459. 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: Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, New Jersey, USA (P201458) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P201458..

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The earliest historical document in human history.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.