Position in chronology
NMSA 3914
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P342139.
Transliteration
2(disz) udu niga 2(disz) masz2-gal niga en-lil2 2(disz) udu niga 2(disz) masz2-gal niga# nin-lil2 udu gar3?-zi-a 2(disz) udu niga en-lil2 2(disz) udu niga nin#-[lil2] nansze-GIR2@g-gal# [x] iti u4 8(disz)-kam# [x] szunigin 8(disz) udu niga 4(disz)# [masz2-gal niga] ki na-lu5-ta ba#-[zi] iti sze-sag11-ku5 mu amar-suen lugal 1(u) 2(disz)
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — NMSA 3914. 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: National Museum of Syria, Aleppo, Syria (P342139) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P342139..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.