RTC 309

~2037 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P128462

Translation · reference

Experimental

Source: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P128462.

Why it matters

Transliteration

6(disz) ha-bu3-da
ki-la2-bi 3(disz) ma-na la2 1(disz) gin2
ba-la2
ki na-ba-sa6-ta
ur-szu-ga-lam-ma
szu ba-ti
giri3 sza13-dub-ba
u3 ur-nun-gal
mu szu-suen
lugal uri5-ma-ke4 e2 szara2 umma mu-du3

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — RTC 309. 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 (P128462) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P128462..

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The earliest historical document in human history.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.