Position in chronology
Syracuse 032
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P130583.
Transliteration
[n] 2(disz) sar sahar 4(disz) gin2 1(u) la2 1(disz) gurusz u4 4(disz)-sze3 dub-la2 utu gub-ba 1(u) 1(disz) gurusz u4 4(disz)-sze3 kab2-ku5 szinig-sze3 har-an il2-la a-ra2-bi 2(disz)-ta ugula lugal-gu4-e kiszib3 nam-sza3-tam a-szi-an mu amar-suen lugal a-szi-an ARAD2 szara2 dumu lugal-sa6-ga
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — Syracuse 032. 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: Syracuse University Library, Syracuse, New York, USA (P130583) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P130583..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.