RA 076, 007 01

~2045 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P128032

Translation · reference

Experimental

Source: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P128032.

Why it matters

Transliteration

1(u) 2(disz) udu niga
u4 8(disz)-kam
ki ab-ba-sa6-ga-ta
na-lu5 i3-dab5
iti ezem-an-na
mu amar-suen lugal-e ur-bi2-lum mu-hul
1(u) 2(disz)

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — RA 076, 007 01. 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: Manchester Museum, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK (P128032) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P128032..

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The earliest historical document in human history.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.