Position in chronology
SACT 2, 138
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P129095.
Transliteration
2(gesz'u) 1(gesz2) 4(u) 5(disz) sar gi zex(SIG7)-a 1(u) 5(disz) sar-ta a2-bi u4 1(gesz2) 2(u) 7(disz) 2(gesz'u) 4(gesz2) 1(u) 2(disz) sar gi zex(SIG7)-a 1(u) 2(disz) sar-ta a2-bi u4 2(u) 1(disz) 4(gesz2) 4(u) 1(disz) 2/3(disz) sar gi zex(SIG7)-a 1(u) sar-ta a2-bi u4 2(u) 8(disz) 1(u) gin2 1(gesz2) 3(u) 2(disz) 2/3(disz) gurusz u4 1(disz)-sze3 gi kesz2-ra2 a-sza3 zalag-ga#?-a-gesztin-na ugula lu2-ku3-zu a2 lu2 hun-ga2 8(disz) sila3-ta kiszib3 ur-zabala3 mu szu-suen lugal-e na-mah mu-du3 ur-zabala3 aga3-us2 ensi2 a-a-kal-la
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — SACT 2, 138. 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: Spurlock Museum, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, USA (P129095) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P129095..
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.
A window into the world's first total state. The Ur III administration tracked every animal, every worker, every shekel — for a population in the millions. The level of paperwork was not exceeded until the modern era.