KM 89241

~2036 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P234999

Translation · reference

Experimental

Source: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P234999.

Why it matters

Transliteration

2(ban2) KA# [...]
2(disz) sila3 i3# [...]
2(disz) sila3 i3 [...]
2(disz) sila3 SZIM# [...]
1(disz) sila3 SZIM hi#-a#
nig2#-dab5? masz-masz a-sza3 kesz2-ra2
ki szara2-kam-ta
kiszib3 e2-gal-e-si
a-sza3 gu2-edin-na u3 musz-bi-an-na
iti sze-sag11-ku5
mu us2-sa szu-[]suen lugal-e bad3# mar-tu mu-du3# mu us2#-sa#-[bi]
e2-gal-e-[si]
dub-[sar]
dumu lu2-szara2#
sa12-du5-ka#

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — KM 89241. 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: Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA (P234999) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P234999..

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The earliest historical document in human history.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.