Princeton 2, 161

~2037 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P201159

Translation · reference

Experimental

Source: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P201159.

Why it matters

Transliteration

4(disz) gur zi3-da esir2 su-ba
ki a-gu-ta
kiszib3 ur-suen
sza3 bala-a
mu szu-suen lugal
ur-suen
dumu ur-gigir

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — Princeton 2, 161. 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: Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, New Jersey, USA (P201159) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P201159..

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The earliest historical document in human history.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.