RTC 308

~2037 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P128461

Translation · reference

Experimental

Source: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P128461.

Why it matters

Transliteration

1(disz) kusz gu4
mu en eridu-ga ba-a-hun
1(disz) kusz gu4
mu en nanna kar-zi-da ba-a-hun
1(disz) kusz gu4
mu szu-suen lugal
2(disz) kusz gu4
mu ma2-dara3-abzu ba-ab-du8
giri3-se3-ga
gigir nin-gir2-su-ka-sze3
ki lu2-sa6-ga-ta
x ab-ba-a
mu 4(disz)-kam

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — RTC 308. 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: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P128461) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P128461..

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The earliest historical document in human history.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.