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Sumerian · Book

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Sumerian · Book

The first cities. The first stories. Still here, written in clay.

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Every tablet in the corpus — sortable by date, title or period; filterable by theme and period. Find a name, follow a period, or explore a subject through the records it left behind.

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Ubaid Uruk Period Early Dynastic Akkadian Empire Ur III · Neo-Sumerian Old Babylonian Old Assyrian Middle Babylonian Middle Assyrian Neo-Assyrian Neo-Babylonian Achaemenid Persian

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Editorial Sumerian literature Sumerian royal Assyrian royal Assyrian archives

28,926 of 102,257 tablets · 5 filters activeClear filters

1801–1850 of 28926

Page 37 / 579

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

Unattributed Ur III 1043

Votive dedication by a governor of Nippur to secure divine favour — one of many such formulaic inscriptions that collectively map the administrative hierarchy beneath Ur III kings.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2050 BCE

·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian

ETCSRI

Unattributed Ur III 1047add (FAOS 09/2, Ur 02)

Survives only in a dedicatory fragment naming a vessel by its cultic epithet, attesting the Ur III practice of inscribing temple bowls with formal designations that tied physical offerings to sacred space.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

Ur-Namma 02

Attests Ur-Namma's role as builder of Nanna's temple at Ur — the cultic construction project that legitimised his dynasty's rule under the moon-god's patronage, c. 2050 BCE.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

Ur-Namma 04

Royal inscription of Ur-Namma attesting his construction of Nanna's temple and Ur's city wall — physical proof that the founder of the Ur III dynasty framed monumental building as an act of divine service to the moon god.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

Ur-Namma 05

Dedicatory inscription of Ur-Namma recording the establishment of a sacred garden and sanctuary for An at Ur: evidence that royal piety toward the sky-god took monumental, horticultural form a century before Hammurabi.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

Ur-Namma 07

Dedicatory inscription attesting Ur-Namma's construction of a temple for Ninšagepada — evidence that this otherwise obscure goddess held an active cult under the Third Dynasty of Ur.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

Ur-Namma 11

Dedicatory inscription for Ur-Namma's great ziggurat at Ur, the E-temen-ni-guru: direct royal testimony linking the monument's construction to the moon-god Nanna, anchoring the city's theological identity c. 2050 BCE.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

Ur-Namma 12

Dedicatory inscription for Ur-Namma's rebuilding of the E-temen-ni-guru ziggurat at Ur — direct epigraphic testimony linking the founder of the Ur III dynasty to Nanna's great temple complex.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

Ur-Namma 15

Dedicatory inscription recording Ur-Namma's construction of a temple to Inana at Kugnun, expanding the cultic geography of Ur III royal patronage beyond the dynasty's core shrine at Ur.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

Ur-Namma 17

Records Ur-Namma restoring Magan boat traffic and sea-merchant access to quay walls — direct evidence that Ur III kings actively managed long-distance Gulf trade as an act of royal piety toward the moon-god Nanna.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

Ur-Namma 33

Attests Ur-Namma's construction of a temple for Inana, linking royal piety to political legitimacy at the height of the Ur III empire's centralised religious building programme.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

Ur-Namma 35

Dedicatory inscription in which Ur-Namma claims construction of a temple for the sun-god Utu, attesting the king's programme of sacred building as a pillar of Ur III royal legitimacy.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

Ur-Namma 36

Attests Ur-Namma's construction of Ninhursaĝa's temple at Keš, linking the founder of the Ur III dynasty to one of Sumer's oldest cult centres through royal building patronage.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

Ur-Namma 39

Records Ur-Namma's excavation of a dedicated offering canal at Ur, linking royal hydraulic engineering directly to the provisioning of temple cult under Enlil's authority.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

Ur-Namma 40

Ur-Namma's canal dedication to the moon-god Nanna at Ur attests the Ur III state's hydraulic investment as an act of royal piety, linking irrigation infrastructure directly to divine patronage.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

Ur-Namma 42

A royal inscription of Ur-Namma, founder of the Ur III dynasty and promulgator of the oldest known law code, dedicated to the moon-god Nanna — one of dozens of such dedications anchoring royal legitimacy in divine patronage.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

Ur-Namma 47

Dedicatory vow on a vase from Nanna's temple at Ur links Ur-Namma's building piety to Gilgameš as divine protector — and preserves one of the earliest epigraphic curse formulae against inscription erasure.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

Ur-Namma 49

A fragmentary Ur-Namma royal inscription that adds one more manuscript witness to the corpus defining how Ur III kings projected legal and divine authority in their own words.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

Ur-Namma 54

Attests a daughter of Ur-Namma serving as en-priestess of the moon-god Nanna at Ur, documenting the dynastic strategy of placing royal women in Mesopotamia's highest cultic offices.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianOur engine

AAICAB 1/3, pl. 223, Bod S 182

1(aš) gur barley, royal (measure) — barley of the loan, (for) flour, by the bronze gur (measure), from Ur-lisi, in the name of Lugal-gigire, son of Ur-Ištaran — sealed by Ur-en(na), the carpenter; it is at hand (booked). Month: "Dumuzi", year: "the son of the king ..." [broken] Ur-li, the carpenter, son of Lugal-[...].

Law·Economy

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianOur engine

AAICAB 1/3, pl. 224, Bod S 187

Seal of the governor (ensi2): 5 grain-fed oxen, 68 grain-fed sheep — (recipient/authority) Nin-tur-tur, beloved child of Šulgi, the king. (Seal inscription:) Nigar-ki-du10, the chief constable (gal5-la2-gal), son of Giri-[...], is your servant.

Unattributed Ur III 1043

Unattributed Ur III 1047add (FAOS 09/2, Ur 02)

Ur-Namma 02

Ur-Namma 04

Ur-Namma 05

Ur-Namma 07

Ur-Namma 11

Ur-Namma 12

Ur-Namma 15

Ur-Namma 17

Ur-Namma 33

Ur-Namma 35

Ur-Namma 36

Ur-Namma 39

Ur-Namma 40

Ur-Namma 42

Ur-Namma 47

Ur-Namma 49

Ur-Namma 54

AAICAB 1/3, pl. 223, Bod S 182

AAICAB 1/3, pl. 224, Bod S 187

AAICAB 1/3, pl. 224, Bod S 189

ABAA (KAO 4), 79 P351

Amar-Suena 01

Anonymous 429769

Anonymous 497570

ArOr 87, 033-057 07

ArOr 87, 033-057 11

AUCT 3, 337

AuOr 31, 232 02

AuOr 31, 232 03

AuOr 31, 233 04

AuOr 31, 233 05

AuOr 31, 233 06

AuOr 32, 175-176

AuOr 33, 215-220

AuOr 33, 215-220

AuOr 33, 215-220

BAOM 2, 26 24

BAOM 2, 30 61

BM 014751

Chicago 20060119d

CM 26, 146

CUNES 49-02-029

CUNES 51-04-018

CUNES 51-10-056

CUNES 52-04-082

CUNES 52-04-084

CUSAS 03, 0062

CUSAS 03, 0074