AAICAB 1/3, pl. 235, Bod S 241

~2072 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P249148

Translation · reference

Experimental

Source: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P249148.

Why it matters

Transliteration

4(u) 3(disz) udu niga saga 1(disz) 1/2(disz) sila3 sze-ta
1(disz) 1/3(disz) sila3 2/3(disz) gin2 duh saga 1(u) gin2 duh du-ta
sze#-bi 6(asz) 1(barig) 1(ban2) 1/2(disz) sila3 gur
[duh] saga#-bi 5(asz) 2(barig) 5(ban2) 6(disz) 1/2(disz) sila3 9(disz) 2/3(disz) gin2 gur
duh du-bi 3(barig) 2(ban2) 7(disz) 2/3(disz) sila3
sza3-gal udu niga saga
iti li9-si4
mu si-mu-ru-um ba-hul

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — AAICAB 1/3, pl. 235, Bod S 241. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format). [year-name] Dated to Šulgi y23 — Simurrum destroyed based on canonical year-name formula in the transliteration.

Attribution

Image: Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, UK (P249148) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P249148..

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The earliest historical document in human history.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.