Syracuse 058

~2037 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P130609

Translation · reference

Experimental

Source: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P130609.

Why it matters

Transliteration

1(u) 4(disz) gurusz u4 5(disz)-sze3
a-da gub-ba
a-sza3 lugal-ka
1(u) 3(disz) 1/2(disz) gurusz u4 3(disz)-sze3
a-sza3 uku2-nu-ti bala-a-ri
sa-du8 ak u3 a-da gub-ba
ugula lu2-du10-ga
kiszib3 da-da-ga
mu szu-suen lugal
da-da-ga
dub-sar
dumu ur-nigar szusz3

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — Syracuse 058. 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: Syracuse University Library, Syracuse, New York, USA (P130609) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P130609..

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The earliest historical document in human history.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.