STU 51

~2028 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P130477

Translation · reference

Experimental

Source: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P130477.

Why it matters

Transliteration

5(disz) ad3 udu
5(disz) sag-du udu
nin-ur4-ra
1(disz) szul-gi
1(disz) amar-suen
1(disz) szu-suen
u4-sakar u4 1(u) 5(disz)
mu-kux(DU) sza3 e2 masz-sze3
iti pa4-u2-e
mu i-bi2-suen# lugal

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — STU 51. 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: John Rylands Library, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK (P130477) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P130477..

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The earliest historical document in human history.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.