Position in chronology
AAICAB 1/2, pl. 118, 1954-208
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P248730.
Transliteration
2(u) masz2-gal u2 masz2-da-re-a lugal ki en nanna-sze3 szu-e2-a sukkal maszkim 1(disz) udu u2 ba-la-la nar szu-ma-ma u4-da-tusz maszkim sza3 uri5-ma u4 7(disz)-kam ki ur-ku3-nun-na-ta ba-zi giri3 lu2-sza-lim dub-sar iti szu-suen mu szu-suen lugal uri5-ma-ke4 ma-da za-ab-sza-li mu-hul 2(u) 1(disz) udu
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — AAICAB 1/2, pl. 118, 1954-208. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format). [year-name] Dated to Šu-Suen y1 — Šu-Suen became king based on canonical year-name formula in the transliteration.
Attribution
Image: Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, UK (P248730) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P248730..
Related tablets
Related sources
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.
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.
The earliest historical document in human history.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.