NMSA 3557

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P341913

Translation — curated editorial

Editorial

Experimental

Editorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P341913.

Transliteration

1(disz) ma2 1(gesz2) gur 3(ban2) 6(disz) sila3-ta
ma2-lah5-bi i3-ib2-u3
u4 4(disz)-sze3
sze-bi 2(barig) 2(ban2) 4(disz) sila3
a-sza3 la2-mah#-ta umma-sze3 mu-sza-zi-ga
giri3 dingir-ra
iti nesag
mu ur-bi2-i3-lum ba-hul

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — NMSA 3557. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).

Attribution

Image: National Museum of Syria, Aleppo, Syria (P341913) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P341913..

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The earliest historical document in human history.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.