Position in chronology
FLP unn07 (966)
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P460996.
Transliteration
1(disz) gu4 u2 1(disz) sila4 ba-usz2# u4# 1(u) 6(disz)-kam ki# ur#-ku3#-nun#-na-ta szul-gi-iri-mu szu ba-ti giri3 lu2-sza-lim dub-sar iti sze-sag11-ku5 mu szu-suen lugal uri5-ma-ke4# ma2-gur8 mah en-lil2 nin-lil2-ra mu-ne-dim2 1(disz) gu4 1(disz) udu
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — FLP unn07 (966). 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: Free Library of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA (P460996) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P460996..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.