OTR 159

~2046 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P123094

Translation — curated editorial

Editorial

Experimental

Editorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P123094.

Transliteration

4(disz) gurdub tug2 szar3 3(u) ma-na gu2-ta
6(disz) gurdub tug2 us2 szar3 3(u) ma-na gu2-ta
2(disz) gurdub tug2 nig2-lam2 3(disz)-kam us2 1(asz) gu2-ta
1(u) 6(disz) [gurdub ...]
4(u) 7(disz) [gurdub ...]
gurdub tug2 guz-za x 1(asz) gu2-ta
2(disz) gurdub siki us2 1(asz) gu2-ta
gurdub siki ge6 [x] 1(asz) gu2-ta
szunigin 1(gesz2) 1(u) 7(disz) gurdub hi-a
u4 1(u)-kam
sza3 ki-nu-nir
mu amar-suen lugal ur-bi2-lum mu-hul

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — OTR 159. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format). [year-name] Dated to Amar-Suen y1 — Amar-Suen became king based on canonical year-name formula in the transliteration.

Attribution

Image: Columbia University Library, New York, New York, USA (P123094) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P123094..

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The earliest historical document in human history.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.