Position in chronology
TRU 253
Translation · reference
ExperimentalSource: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P135017.
Why it matters
Transliteration
1(disz) udu niga 4(disz)-kam us2 ba-usz2 u4 2(u) 7(disz)-kam 2(disz) udu 2(disz) masz2-gal u4 2(u) 8(disz)-kam 1(disz) udu niga 4(disz)-kam us2 u4 2(u) 9(disz)-kam 1(disz) udu u4 3(u)-kam 7(disz) szunigin 2(disz) udu niga 4(disz)-kam us2 szunigin 3(disz) udu szunigin 2(disz) masz2-gal udu ba-usz2 sza3 uri5-ma ki a-ba-en-lil2-gin7-ta szul-gi-iri-mu szu ba-ti giri3 ur-ba-ba6 iti u5-bi2-gu7 mu szu-suen lugal uri5-ma-ke4 na-ru2-a-mah []en-lil2 nin-lil2-ra mu-ne-du3
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — TRU 253. 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: Institut Catholique, Paris, France (P135017) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P135017..
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.
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.
The earliest historical document in human history.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.