MVN 20, 153

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P143086

Translation — curated editorial

Editorial

Experimental

Editorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P143086.

Transliteration

3(gesz'u) 8(gesz2) 1(u) 1/3(disz) gurusz u4 1(disz)-sze3
sze-bi 4(u) 5(asz) 4(barig)
ugula lugal-e2-mah#-e
4(gesz'u) 2(gesz2) 4(u) 7(disz) 1/3(disz) gurusz u4 1(disz)-sze3
ugula i7-pa-e3
3(gesz'u) 8(gesz2) 3(u) 7(disz) gurusz u4 1(disz)-sze3#
ugula lugal-ukken#-ne2#
4(gesz'u) 2(gesz2)# [x] gurusz# [u4 1(disz)]-sze3#
<ugula> lugal-nesag-e
mu en inanna
a2 lu2 hun-ga2

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — MVN 20, 153. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).

Attribution

Image: State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation (P143086) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P143086..

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The earliest historical document in human history.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.