MVN 21, 266

~2037 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P120503

Translation — curated editorial

Editorial

Experimental

Editorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P120503.

Transliteration

1(u) gu4 niga 8(disz) sila3-ta
3(u) 7(disz) gu4 6(disz) sila3-ta
sze-bi 3(u) 1(barig) gur
sza3-gal gu4 niga
5(asz) 1(barig) 1(ban2) gur sze-ba giri3-se3-ga-ba
bala ensi2 umma
iti ezem-szul-gi
mu szu-suen lugal

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — MVN 21, 266. 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: State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation (P120503) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P120503..

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The earliest historical document in human history.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.