AAICAB 1/3, pl. 241, Bod S 272

~2028 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P249177

Translation · reference

Experimental

Source: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P249177.

Why it matters

Transliteration

1(gesz2) udu niga saga [...]
1(disz) sila3 6(disz) gin2 duh saga-ta
7(disz) udu niga us2 1(disz) sila3 sze-ta
sze-bi 1(barig) 3(ban2) 7(disz) sila3
duh saga-bi 1(barig) 6(disz) sila3
u4 1(disz)-kam
u4 3(u)-sze3
szunigin 9(asz) 3(barig) 3(ban2) sze gur
szunigin 6(asz) 3(barig) duh saga gur
iti li9-si4
mu i-bi2-suen lugal

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — AAICAB 1/3, pl. 241, Bod S 272. 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 (P249177) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P249177..

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The earliest historical document in human history.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.