Position in chronology
CUSAS 39, 153
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.
Transliteration
1(u) 3(disz) sar kid mah 5(gesz2) gil dagal 3(szar2) gil gazi a2 ad-kup4 hun-ga2-ke4 ib2-sur 2(gesz'u) 2(gesz2) 3(u) 4(disz) ur3 hi-a a2 nagar hun-ga2-ke4 ib2-ur5 u4 1-kam e2 szakkan2 ki lugal-a2-zi-da-ta iti udru mu us2-sa ki-masz ba-hul mu us2-sa-bi
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — CUSAS 39, 153. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Schøyen Collection, Oslo, Norway (P250483) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P250483..
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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.