Hermitage 3, 381

~2036 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P211957

Translation · reference

Experimental

Source: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P211957.

Why it matters

Transliteration

1(disz) ab2 mu 1(asz)
2(disz) gu4 amar ga
2(disz) ab2 amar ga
2(gesz2) 2(u) 7(disz) masz2-gal
5(u) 8(disz) ud5
1(disz) masz2 gaba
giri3 ur-iszkur
1(disz) gu4 amar ga
[4(u)] 2(disz) masz2-gal
giri3 lu2-ig-alim
6(disz) gu4 4(gesz2) 8(disz) udu
la2-ia3-am3
ki a-hu-we-er
iti diri ezem-me-ki-gal2
mu us2-sa szu-suen lugal uri5-ma-ke4 bad3 mar-tu mu-ri-iq-ti-id-ni-im mu-du3

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — Hermitage 3, 381. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format). [year-name] Dated to Šu-Suen y2 — Year after: Šu-Suen became king based on canonical year-name formula in the transliteration.

Attribution

Image: State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation (P211957) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P211957..

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The earliest historical document in human history.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.