MVN 15, 109

~2072 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P118389

Translation · reference

Experimental

Source: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P118389.

Why it matters

Transliteration

1(barig) 1(ban2) 5(disz) sila3 sze-ba an-ne2-sa6
3(ban2) e2-ta-mu-zu!
3(ban2) nin-geszkim-zi dumu u-hu-um-mi
usz2 geme2-du6!(KI)-ku3-ga
usz2 hi-li2-a
3(ban2) nin-ik-sur2
1(ban2) 5(disz) sila3 szara2-ba-an-sa6
1(barig) 2(ban2) nin-gi-na ensi2
2(ban2) nin-ezem dam lugal-ezem engar
szu nu-ti-a
iti dal
mu si-mu-ru-um ba-hul
3(ban2) geme2-dumu-zi-da sze?

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — MVN 15, 109. 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: Allegheny College, Meadville, Pennsylvania, USA (P118389) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P118389..

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The earliest historical document in human history.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.