NYPL 242

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P122780

Translation — curated editorial

Editorial

Experimental

Editorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P122780.

Transliteration

1(u) gu4 niga 3(disz) gu4
3(disz) ab2 niga 4(disz) ab2
1(gesz'u) 2(gesz2) 4(disz) udu
1(gesz2) 1(u) 6(disz) masz2-gal
szul-gi-ha-si2-is
2(disz) sila4 ur-suen dumu szesz-da-da sanga
1(disz) amar masz-da3 e2-a-i3-li2
1(disz) sila4 ensi2 urumx(|UR2xU2|)
2(disz) sila4 szul-gi-kalam-ma-me-te-bi!(SI)
mu-kux(DU)
na-sa6 i3-dab5
iti szu-esz5-sza
mu us2-sa ki-masz ba-hul
u4 4(disz)-kam

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — NYPL 242. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).

Attribution

Image: New York Public Library, New York, New York, USA (P122780) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P122780..

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The earliest historical document in human history.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.