USC 6511

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P235326

Translation · reference

Experimental

Source: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P235326.

Why it matters

Transliteration

1(gesz2) 4(u) 5(disz) 1/2(disz) gurusz u4 1(disz)-sze3
ugu2 ur-gigir nu-banda3-gu4 ba-a-gar
4(u) 2(disz) gurusz u4 1(disz)-sze3
ugu2 ur-gigir szabra ba-a-gar
1(gesz2) 1(disz) gurusz u4 1(disz)-sze3
ugu2 lugal-gu4-e-ka ba-a-gar
a-sza3-ge kin-ak
a-sza3 a-gesztin
ugula ur-szul-pa-e3
kiszib3 nam#-sza3#-tam# [szesz]-kal-la dumu [da]-da#
mu en-mah#-gal-an-na ba-hun
lugal-nig2-lagar-e
dub-sar
dumu da-da

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — USC 6511. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).

Attribution

Image: Archaeological Research Collection, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA (P235326) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P235326..

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The earliest historical document in human history.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.