OTR 146

~2036 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P123081

Translation · reference

Experimental

Source: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P123081.

Why it matters

Transliteration

3(asz) 4(barig) sze gur lugal
i3-dub he-gal2-ta
ki al-la-mu-ta
lu2-dingir-ra ugula muszen-du3-ke4
szu ba-ti
sze ur5-ra su-su-dam
iti amar-a-a-si
mu us2-sa szu-suen lugal-e bad3 mar-tu mu-du3

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — OTR 146. 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: Columbia University Library, New York, New York, USA (P123081) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P123081..

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The earliest historical document in human history.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.