Position in chronology
CST 254
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P107768.
Transliteration
1(disz) udu niga e2-muhaldim-sze3 mu mar-tu masz-masz dilmun-ta e-ra-ne 1(disz) udu niga ra-szi lu2 zi-da-num2 1(disz) udu niga puzur4-ma-ma lu2 ma-ri2 1(disz) udu niga i3-li2-da-gan lu2 eb-la giri3 lugal-inim-gi-na sukkal lugal-ma2-gur8-re maszkim iti u4 3(disz) ba-zal ki lu2-dingir-ra-ta ba-zi iti a2-ki-ti mu amar-suen lugal ur-bi2-lum mu-hul 4(disz)
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — CST 254. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format). [year-name] Dated to Amar-Suen y1 — Amar-Suen became king based on canonical year-name formula in the transliteration.
Attribution
Image: John Rylands Library, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK (P107768) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P107768..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.