Position in chronology
CUSAS 03, 0359
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P324016.
Transliteration
3(gesz2) 8(disz) sar 1(u) gin2 sig4 bi2-gu7-bi nu-zi szid-da sza3 gesz-szub-ba giri3 e2-a-szar us2-sa i7 a-ga-mu-um mu-kux(DU) me-e2-a ugula lu2 [hun]-ga2# iti a2-ki-ti mu szu-suen lugal uri5-ma-ke4 ma2-gur8-mah en-lil2 nin-lil2-ra mu-ne-dim2 szu-kab2-ta a-zu dumu na-ra-am-i3-li2 iszkur-illat dub-sar dumu a-bi2-a ARAD2-zu
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — CUSAS 03, 0359. 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: Department of Near Eastern Studies, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA (P324016) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P324016..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.