USC 6818

~2037 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P235629

Translation · reference

Experimental

Source: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P235629.

Why it matters

Transliteration

3(ban2) tur-tur-ra#
geme2 lugal-ezem nu-banda3-gu4
mu# la2-ia3 su-ga [sze] ur5#-<ra> 1(barig)-sze3
szesz#-saga i3-dab5
[iti] min-esz3-ta
u4# 2(u) 3(disz)-am3 ba-ra-zal
mu szu-suen# lugal#-e# na-ru2-a#-mah# mu#-du3#
szesz-sa6-ga
dub-sar
dumu lugal-gu3-de2-a

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — USC 6818. 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: Archaeological Research Collection, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA (P235629) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P235629..

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The earliest historical document in human history.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.