ICP varia 01

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P275198

Translation · reference

Experimental

Source: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P275198.

Why it matters

Transliteration

1(asz) dug dida saga
5(disz) sila3 zi3 sig15
3(disz) sila3 zi3 dub-dub
2(disz) sila3 esza
nig2-siskur2-ra GIR-x-ta za-gin3-sze3
1(asz) dug dida saga
5(disz) sila3 zi3 sig15
3(disz) sila3 zi3 dub-dub
2(disz) sila3 esza
nig2-siskur2-ra 2(disz)-kam a-giri3?-ma-nu-sze3
giri3 ur-nin-gir2-su
zi-ga
iti ezem-szul-gi

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — ICP varia 01. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).

Attribution

Image: Institut Catholique, Paris, France (P275198) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P275198..

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The earliest historical document in human history.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.