USC 6537

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P235350

Translation — curated editorial

Editorial

Experimental

Editorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P235350.

Transliteration

gu4# x x x
gu4 u4 2(u) 2(disz)-sze3 ur-suen#
a2 gu4 u4 1(disz)-a 1(barig) 2(ban2) sze-ba
sze-bi 3(u) 4(barig) 2(ban2) gur a2 gu4-da
3(barig) 2(ban2) sze-ba 1(barig) 4(ban2) a2-gu4-da
lugal-pa-e3 [x]
1(asz) gur sze-ba lugal-ezem
1(asz) gur sze-ba 1(barig) 4(ban2) a2 gu4-da#
ur-en-lil2
3(barig) 2(ban2) sze-ba ur-szara2
3(barig) 2(ban2) sze#-ba# ur-szul-pa-e3
1(barig) sze# lugal#-a2-mu
5(disz) gurusz u4 6(disz)-sze3 sze ib2-x-x
6(disz) gurusz u4 1(u)-sze3 x a2#-bi
a#-sza3# x [...]

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — USC 6537. 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 (P235350) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P235350..

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The earliest historical document in human history.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.