MVN 11, 187

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P116200

Translation — curated editorial

Editorial

Experimental

Editorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P116200.

Transliteration

7(disz) suhub2 gu-dim4-ba gada du8-szi-a an-bi e2-ba-an
5(disz) suhub2 du8-szi-a an-bi e2-ba-an
3(disz) suhub2 du8-szi-a e2-ba-an
2(disz) suhub2 tug2 du8-a babbar2 e2-ba-an
1(disz) suhub2 kusz u2-hab2 e2-ba-an
1(disz) e-sir2 gu-dim4-ba gada du8-szi-a! e2-ba-an
2(disz) e-sir2 gu-dim4-ba aktum2 e2-ba-an
1(disz) e-sir2 du8-szi-a suhusz gub-ba e2-ba-[an]
1(u) e-sir2 du8-szi-a e2-ba-an
kin ak lu2-gu-la
ki puzur4-i3-li2-ta
gaba-ri kiszib3 nu-ur2-i3-li2
iti sze-sag11-ku5
mu en eridu ba-hun

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — MVN 11, 187. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).

Attribution

Image: Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA (P116200) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P116200..

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The earliest historical document in human history.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.