Position in chronology
AAICAB 1/2, pl. 132, 1971-314
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P248828.
Transliteration
6(disz) sila3 1(u) 5(disz) gin2 i3-nun du10-ga 1(disz) 1/2(disz) sila3 i3-gesz du10-ga# 3(disz) sila3 i3-nun 3(disz) sila3 i3-gesz# 1(barig) 1(disz) sila3 sze-gesz-i3 x [...] i3-gesz-bi 1(ban2) 3(disz) 1/2(disz) sila3 3(disz) gin2 5(ban2) ga-UD@g 1(ban2) 5(disz) sila3 naga si-e3 1(u) 2(disz) ma-na siki ud5 1(asz) gu2 3(u) ma-na bappir# 1(disz) ma2 1(u) 5(disz) [gur] mu-kux(DU) szara2# ki?# [...] x gi-[...] ur-e11-e szu ba-[ti] mu amar-suen [lugal]-e# ur-bi2-lum[ mu]-hul#
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — AAICAB 1/2, pl. 132, 1971-314. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format). [year-name] Dated to Amar-Suen y2 — Urbilum destroyed based on canonical year-name formula in the transliteration.
Attribution
Image: Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, UK (P248828) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P248828..
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.