OTR 056

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P122991

Translation — curated editorial

Editorial

Experimental

Editorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P122991.

Transliteration

3(disz) sila3 kasz 2(disz) sila3 ninda
2(disz) gin2 i3
puzur4-i3-li2 a-sza3 nigin-de3 gen-na
3(disz) sila3 kasz 2(disz) sila3 ninda
2(disz) gin2 i3
i-ti-a lu2 tukul-gu-la
3(disz) <sila3> kasz 2(disz) sila3 <ninda>
2(disz) gin2 i3
lu2-dingir-ra szim ansze-sze3 gen#-na
3(disz) sila3 kasz 2(disz) sila3 ninda
2(disz) gin2 i3
a-mur-utu lu2 kas4
zi-ga u4 3(u) la2 1(disz@t)
iti GAN2-masz

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — OTR 056. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).

Attribution

Image: Columbia University Library, New York, New York, USA (P122991) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P122991..

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The earliest historical document in human history.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.