Position in chronology
NMSA 3951
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P342073.
Transliteration
[...] lugal#? [...] zi3#? gur [i3]-dub ki-su7 du6#-gub3-temen-na [sza3]-bi-ta [x] 4(u)# 7(asz) 2(barig) 5(u) 7(asz) 2(ban2) zi3 gur [x]-ta gal2-la-am3 [x] x-a [giri3] na#-bi2-en-lil2-la2 [...] x [iti e2]-iti-6(disz) [mu ... si]-mu-ru?-um [...] a-ra2 1(u) la2 1(disz@t)# [...]-hul
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — NMSA 3951. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: National Museum of Syria, Aleppo, Syria (P342073) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P342073..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.