Position in chronology
CDLJ 2012/1 §4.45
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P416449.
Transliteration
1(disz) gu4 mu# [...] 8(disz) u8 [...] mu aga3-us2 a-tu5#-[a-ka] e2-gal-la kux(KWU636)-[ra-ne-sze3] 8(disz) u8 u2# mu aga3-us2-e-ne-sze3 e2-muhaldim nanna-kam sukkal maszkim u4 2(u) 6(disz)-kam ki ur-ku3-nun-na-ta ba-zi giri3 nanna-ma-ba dub-sar iti ki-siki-nin-a-zu# mu szu-suen# lugal uri5[-ma-ke4] bad3 mar-tu [mu-ri-iq]-ti-id-ni#-im mu-[du3] 1(disz) gu4 1(u) 6(disz) udu
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — CDLJ 2012/1 §4.45. 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: Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts, USA (P416449) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P416449..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.