NMSA 3836

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P342010

Translation — curated editorial

Editorial

Experimental

Editorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P342010.

Transliteration

[x] nig2 ar3-ra saga gur
1(barig)# 5(ban2) 5(disz) sila3 ba ba munu4
4(asz)# 1(barig) 3(ban2) 1(disz) 1/2(disz) sila3 SZIM saga gur
1(asz) 1(barig) nig2 ar3-ra imgaga3 gur
3(barig) nig2 ar3-ra du
1(u) 8(asz) 1(ban2) munu4 si-e3 gur
nag# lugal
u3 nag szagina
sze-bi 4(u) 1(asz) 3(barig) 4(ban2) 3(disz) 1/3(disz) sila3 5(disz) gin2 gur
5(asz) 4(barig) 5(ban2) 2(disz) sila3 dabin sza3-gal muhaldim
4(asz)# ninda u3 duh x
4(asz) ninda x x ma-gan gur

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — NMSA 3836. 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 (P342010) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P342010..

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The earliest historical document in human history.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.