OIP 115, 164

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P123456

Translation — curated editorial

Editorial

Experimental

Editorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P123456.

Transliteration

1(disz) sila4 niga
ensi2 nibru
1(disz) sila4 ur-en-lil2-la2
1(disz) amar masz-da3 ur-utu
1(disz) sila4 1(disz) amar masz-da3
szu-ru-usz-ki-in
2(disz) amar masz-da3
e2-a-i3-li2
mu-kux(DU)
iti masz-da3-gu7
mu si-mu-ru-um u3 lu-lu-bu a-ra2 1(u) la2 1(disz@t)-kam-ma-asz ba-hul
u4 2(u) 6(disz)-kam

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — OIP 115, 164. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).

Attribution

Image: Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA (P123456) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P123456..

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The earliest historical document in human history.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.