AAICAB 1/3, pl. 184, Bod A 46

~2028 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P248981

Translation · reference

Experimental

Source: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P248981.

Why it matters

Transliteration

6(szar2) 5(gesz'u) 3(gesz2) 5(u) geme2 u4 1(disz)-sze3
geme2 tu-ra ugula-iri-bi 2(gesz'u) 4(u) 1(disz) 1/2(disz) geme2 u4 1(disz)-sze3
1(szar2) 1(gesz'u) 4(gesz2) 1(u) 1(disz) 1/3(disz) sa gu
1(asz) 1(ban2) 4(disz) sila3 naga gur
x [...] x [...]
x [...]
szunigin 1(szar2)# [n] ge6#? [...]
[...] ni [...]
iti# szu#-numun# [u4 1(u) 8(disz) ba-zal]
mu na-ru2-a-mah-ta#
iti szu-numun u4 1(u) 9(disz) ba-zal
mu i-bi2-suen lugal-sze3
iti 4(u) 9(disz) u4 1(disz)-kam
iti diri 2(disz)-am3 sza3-ba i3-gal2

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — AAICAB 1/3, pl. 184, Bod A 46. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format). [year-name] Dated to Ibbi-Suen y1 — Ibbi-Suen became king based on canonical year-name formula in the transliteration.

Attribution

Image: Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, UK (P248981) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P248981..

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The earliest historical document in human history.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.