Princeton 1, 206

~2059 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P126895

Translation · reference

Experimental

Source: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P126895.

Why it matters

Transliteration

4(gesz'u) la2 2(gesz2) sa gi NE
gu-nigin2-ba 1(u) sa-ta i3-gal2
ki za3-mu ugula-ta
ur-e11-e-ke4
szu ba-ti
iti sze-sag-ku5
mu us2-sa an-sza-an ba-hul
ur-e11-e dub-sar
dumu ur-nigar

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — Princeton 1, 206. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format). [year-name] Dated to Šulgi y36 — Year after: Anšan destroyed based on canonical year-name formula in the transliteration.

Attribution

Image: Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, New Jersey, USA (P126895) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P126895..

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The earliest historical document in human history.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.