Princeton 2, 208

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P201206

Translation — curated editorial

Editorial

Experimental

Editorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P201206.

Transliteration

4(u) 3(disz) udu niga saga
1(disz) 1/3(disz) sila3 sze-ta
1(disz) sila3 duh saga-ta
3(u) udu niga us2
1(disz) sila3 sze-ta
1(disz) sila3 duh saga-ta
u4 3(u)-kam
szunigin 8(asz) 3(barig) 4(ban2) sze gur
szunigin 7(asz) 2(barig) 3(ban2) duh saga gur
iti ezem-szul-gi
mu si-ma-num2 ba-hul

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — Princeton 2, 208. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).

Attribution

Image: Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, New Jersey, USA (P201206) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P201206..

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The earliest historical document in human history.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.