MVN 13, 596

~2027 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P117369

Translation · reference

Experimental

Source: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P117369.

Why it matters

Transliteration

1(disz) asz2-gar3
1(disz) uz-tur#
1(u) 5(disz) muszen sa6?
4(disz) giri3-lam ku6 duru5 3(disz) sila3-ta
7(disz) giri3-lam zu2-lum 5(disz) sila3-ta
1(u) 7(disz) giri3-lam |UR2xX| 5(disz) sila3-ta
1(u) 5(asz) gu2 sar hi-a
masz2 da ri-a ki lugal-sze3
iti szu-esz5-sza u4 1(u) 4(disz)-kam
mu us2-sa i-bi2-suen lugal uri5-ma-ke4 nibru uri5-ma bad3-gal-bi mu-du3

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — MVN 13, 596. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format). [year-name] Dated to Ibbi-Suen y2 — Year after: Ibbi-Suen became king based on canonical year-name formula in the transliteration.

Attribution

Image: Free Library of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA (P117369) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P117369..

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The earliest historical document in human history.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.