Syracuse 238

~2037 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P130789

Translation · reference

Experimental

Source: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P130789.

Why it matters

Transliteration

4(gesz2) 1(u) sar [...]
i7 szu-suen#-he2-gal2-szara2 [(x)]
1(u) 8(disz) 5/6(disz) sar 5(disz) gin2#
bar-la2 ba-al-[la]
a-sza3 nun-na [(x)]
a2 lu2 hun-ga2
kiszib3 ur-e11-e
mu szu-suen lugal uri5-ma-ke4 bad3 mar-tu mu-ri-iq-ti-id#-ni-im mu-du3
ur-e11-e
dub-sar
dumu ur-nigar

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — Syracuse 238. 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 (P130789) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P130789..

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The earliest historical document in human history.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.