Position in chronology
CST 554
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P108070.
Transliteration
tu-ra 1(disz) a-a-lu2-du10 iti dal-ta u4 1(u) 5(disz)-am3 ba-ra-zal-la-ta iti min-esz3-sze3 tu-ra 1(disz) lugal-nesag-e u4 1(u) 5(disz)-sze3 tu-ra ur-ma-ti-zu u4 2(u)-sze3 u4 2(u)-sze3 ug3-IL2-ta?! [...]-mu [...]-du-x mu amar-suen lugal ur-e11-e dub-sar dumu ur-nigar
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — CST 554. 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 (P108070) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P108070..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.