STU 45

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P130471

Translation · reference

Experimental

Source: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P130471.

Why it matters

Transliteration

1(gesz2) 2(u) 5(disz) sa gi-zi
u4 2(u) 2(disz)-kam
1(gesz2) 5(u) 2(disz) sa <a>-ra2 1(disz)-kam
1(gesz2) 5(u) sa <a>-ra2 2(disz)-kam
1(gesz2) 3(u) sa a-ra2 3(disz)-kam
u4 2(u) 3(disz)-kam
iti pa4-u2-e

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — STU 45. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).

Attribution

Image: John Rylands Library, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK (P130471) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P130471..

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The earliest historical document in human history.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.