Syracuse 428

~2046 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P130979

Translation — curated editorial

Editorial

Experimental

Editorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P130979.

Transliteration

1(u) dug gal
1(u) 5(disz) dug 1(ban2) 5(disz) sila3
giri3 ur-szul-pa-e3
8(disz) dug gal
4(disz) dug 1(ban2) 5(disz) sila3
a-ra2 2(disz)-kam
giri3 lu2-bala-saga
e2-ta e3-a
ki a-du-mu-ta
e2 szakkan6
iti szu-numun
mu amar-suen lugal ur-bi2-lum mu-hul

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — Syracuse 428. 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 (P130979) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P130979..

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The earliest historical document in human history.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.