MVN 20, 056

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P142989

Translation — curated editorial

Editorial

Experimental

Editorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P142989.

Transliteration

1(disz) dug dida 3(disz) sila3 kasz
1(ban2) ninda 2(disz) gin2 i3 2(disz)# gin2 naga
3(disz) ku6 3(disz) sa szum2
szu-<nu>-musz-da
1(disz) dug dida 3(disz) sila3 kasz saga
1(ban2) ninda 2(disz) gin2 i3# 2(disz) gin2 naga#
3(disz) ku6 3(disz) sa szum2
e-mu-ul
1(ban2) kasz 6(disz) sila3 ninda
4(disz) gin2 i3 4(disz) gin2 naga
2(disz) ku6 2(disz) sa szum2
ur-nigar
u4 2(u) 1(disz@t)-kam
iti e2-iti-6(disz)

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — MVN 20, 056. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).

Attribution

Image: State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation (P142989) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P142989..

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The earliest historical document in human history.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.