OIP 121, 441

~2099 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P124171

Translation · reference

Experimental

Source: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P124171.

Why it matters

Transliteration

[2(disz)] udu# niga en-lil2
[1(disz)] udu niga gu-za
1(disz) masz2-gal niga hur-sag-ga-lam-ma
2(disz) udu niga nin-lil2
2(disz) udu niga
2(disz) masz2-gal niga
kiri6-mah
nansze-GIR2@g-gal maszkim
iti u4 1(u) 7(disz) ba-zal
ki na-lu5-ta
ba-zi
sza3 nibru
iti# ezem-nin-a-zu
mu# gu-za en-lil2#-la2 ba-dim2
1(u)

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — OIP 121, 441. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format). [year-name] Dated to Ur-Nammu y14 — The throne of Enlil was fashioned based on canonical year-name formula in the transliteration.

Attribution

Image: Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA (P124171) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P124171..

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The earliest historical document in human history.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.