SET 131

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P129540

Translation — curated editorial

Editorial

Experimental

Editorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P129540.

Transliteration

3(asz) gur
sa2-du11 e2 nig2-lagar-e
ki lu2-nanna#
1(barig) 1(ban2) 5(disz) sila3 gur
ki lugal-nig2-lagar-e
1(barig) sze ur5-ra gur
a-kal-la# sukkal dumu
ur-nigar sahar#
kiszib3 ur-suen
1(barig) gur kiszib3 szara2-zi-da

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — SET 131. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).

Attribution

Image: Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum, San Jose, California, USA (P129540) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P129540..

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The earliest historical document in human history.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.