NYPL 049

~2028 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P122585

Translation · reference

Experimental

Source: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P122585.

Why it matters

Transliteration

2(disz) udu 1(disz) masz2 ur-am3-ma gudu4 nin-hur-sag a-sza3 ansze
1(disz) masz2 nig2-ba-saga
1(disz) masz2 sza-ku3-ge
3(disz) udu lugal-nir
1(disz) udu szara2-a-mu-lugal#
1(disz) udu lu2#-szara2# gudu4 da-lagasz
szunigin 7(disz) udu 3(disz) masz2 1(u) udu masz2 hi-a
udu gu2-na mu-kux(DU)
sza3-bi-ta
7(disz) udu 3(disz) masz2
kiszib3 ku3-ga-ni
iti sze-kar-ra-gal2-la
u4 1(u) 6(disz)-kam
mu i-bi2-suen lugal

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — NYPL 049. 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: New York Public Library, New York, New York, USA (P122585) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P122585..

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The earliest historical document in human history.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.