NYPL 008

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P122544

Translation — curated editorial

Editorial

Experimental

Editorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P122544.

Transliteration

5(disz) sila3 kasz saga
3(disz) sila3 ninda
2(disz) gin2 i3 2(disz) gin2 naga
1(disz) ku6 1(disz) sa szum2
kal-la-mu gaba-ta
1(disz) kasz dida 2(disz) sila3 kasz du
1/2(disz) ninda 2(disz) gin2 i3 2(disz) gin2 naga
3(disz) ku6 3(disz) sa szum2
nu-ur2-i3-li2 gaba-asz
u4 2(u) la2 2(disz@t)-kam
iti sig4-i3-szub-ba-gar

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — NYPL 008. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).

Attribution

Image: New York Public Library, New York, New York, USA (P122544) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P122544..

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The earliest historical document in human history.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.