MVN 13, 555

~2036 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P117328

Translation · reference

Experimental

Source: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P117328.

Why it matters

Transliteration

1(gesz2) udu niga 5/6(disz) sila3 sze-ta
1/2(disz) sila3 duh saga-ta
1/2(disz) sila3 duh du-ta
u4 3(u) la2 1(disz)-sze3
szunigin 4(asz) 4(barig) 1(ban2) [sze]
szunigin 2(asz) 4(barig) 3(ban2) duh saga
szunigin 2(asz) 4(barig) 3(ban2) duh du
sa2-du11 szara2
iti ezem-szul-gi
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)) — MVN 13, 555. 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: Free Library of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA (P117328) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P117328..

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The earliest historical document in human history.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.