Position in chronology
ViOr 8/1, 015
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P141957.
Transliteration
1(disz) gurusz sza3 sahar-ra u4 5(disz)-sze3 ma2-a zi3 <si>-ga u4 2(u)-sze3 <a>-pi4-sal4-ta e2 sag-da-na-sze3 ma2 gid2-da u4 5(disz)-sze3 zi3 bala-a u3 ma2 su gur-ra ugula lugal-ma2-gur8-re kiszib3 lugal-ku3-zu mu amar-suen lugal lugal-[ku3-zu] dub-[sar] dumu# lugal-[e2-mah-e]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — ViOr 8/1, 015. 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: Università Pontificia Salesiana, Rome, Italy (P141957) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P141957..
Related tablets
Related sources
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.
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.
The earliest historical document in human history.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.