MVN 09, 183

~2036 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P115826

Translation · reference

Experimental

Source: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P115826.

Why it matters

Transliteration

3(u) 3(disz) gesz 1(ban2)
1(u) gesz 1(ban2) 5(disz)
6(disz) gesz 2(ban2)
2(disz) gesz 3(ban2)
1(gesz2) 7(disz) gesz 2(disz) sila3
3(u) 3(disz) gesz 5(disz) sila3
5(u) gesz sza3-su3
szunigin 3(gesz2) 8(disz) gesz hi-a
kiri6 kab2-du11-ga
iti szu-numun
mu us2-sa szu-suen lugal uri5-ma-ke4 bad3 mar-tu mu-du3

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — MVN 09, 183. 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 (P115826) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P115826..

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The earliest historical document in human history.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.