RIME 3/2.01.02.012, ex. add10

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P373956

About this tablet

A standard royal building inscription of Šulgi, second king of the Third Dynasty of Ur (reigned ca. 2094–2047 BCE). In nine short lines it commemorates his construction (or rebuilding) of a temple for Ningirsu, the warrior god of the Lagash region. Inscriptions like this were stamped or carved on bricks and foundation objects in many identical copies, so this exemplar is one of a well-known series — a piece of royal self-advertisement designed to be read by the gods and by future rulers.

Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.

Written in modern English

This is a dedication: Šulgi, the powerful king of Ur and ruler of all Sumer and Akkad, built this temple for his divine lord Ningirsu, the mighty warrior god. That is the entire message — a permanent, official record that the king carried out this pious construction project in the god's honor.

A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.

Translation — our engine

Our engine

High confidence

For Ningirsu, the mighty warrior, his lord — Šulgi, the mighty man, king of Ur, king of Sumer and Akkad, built his (Ningirsu's) temple.

Indicative reading — translated without a photograph. Generated from the transliteration alone, without examining the original. Read it as an accessible first taste, not as a verified catalogue entry.

Our translation engine — Fable 5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.

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Transliteration

nin#-gir2#-su#
ur#-sag# kal#-ga
lugal-a-ni
szul-gi
nita kal-ga
lugal uri5#-ma
lugal ki-en-gi ki-uri-ke4
e2-a-ni
mu-na-du3

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — RIME 3/2.01.02.012, ex. add10. This record has no stored scholarly English translation; the existence of published translations has not been checked; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).

Attribution

Image: Kress 088 (private: anonymous, Germany) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P373956). source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).

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