OIP 121, 177

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P123907

Translation — curated editorial

Editorial

Experimental

Editorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P123907.

Transliteration

1(gesz2) 2(u) 1(disz) ud5 su4 szimaszgi
1(disz) udu hur-sag
1(disz) u8 hur-sag
2(u) 7(disz) dara4-nita2
5(disz) dara4-nita2 szu-gid2
1(u) 7(disz) dara4-munus
3(disz) dara4-munus szu-gid2
2(gesz2) 8(disz) masz-da3
u4 2(disz@t)-kam
ki ab-ba-sa6-ga-ta
lu2-dingir-ra i3-dab5
iti ses-da-gu7
mu en-unu6-gal inanna unu ba-hun
2(gesz2) 1(u) 5(disz) udu 2(gesz2) 8(disz) masz-da3

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — OIP 121, 177. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).

Attribution

Image: Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA (P123907) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P123907..

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The earliest historical document in human history.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.