Position in chronology
MVN 21, 256
Not yet translated
This tablet is catalogued with its transliteration and photographed, but no published translation exists yet. Our translation engine works through the untranslated corpus every night, oldest first — this page will update the day its turn comes. If you are a specialist and can read it, we would love your help.
The world it comes from
A bureaucratic golden age, the Code of Ur-Nammu.
From the same catalogue range (near P120493)
Transliteration
4(disz) gu4 niga 6(disz) sila3 sze 2(ban2) duh-ta 1(u) la2 1(disz) gu4 niga 4(disz) sila3 sze 2(ban2) duh-ta 1(u) 5(disz) ab2 mu 2(asz) 2(disz) sila3 sze 1(ban2) duh-ta 2(u) 6(disz) gu4 2(disz) 2/3(disz) sila3 sze-ta 1(disz) gu4 1(ban2) duh u4 5(disz)-sze3 szunigin 2(asz) 3(barig) 1(ban2) 6(disz) 2/3(disz) sila3 sze gur szunigin 1(asz) 2(barig) duh saga gur szunigin 5(asz) 3(barig) duh du gur sza3-gal gu4 niga iti li9-si4 mu en-unu6-gal inanna ba-hun
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — MVN 21, 256. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format). [year-name] Dated to Amar-Suen y4 — En-unugal of Inanna installed based on canonical year-name formula in the transliteration.
Attribution
Image: State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation (P120493) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P120493..
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A window into the world's first total state. The Ur III administration tracked every animal, every worker, every shekel — for a population in the millions. The level of paperwork was not exceeded until the modern era.