Princeton 1, 131

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P126820

Translation — curated editorial

Editorial

Experimental

Editorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P126820.

Transliteration

1(u) 3(disz) kusz gu4
1(u) 1(disz) kusz ab2 gir
1(u) 3(disz) kusz ab2 gir szu-gi4
1(u) 3(disz) kusz amar gu4 szu-gi4
6(gesz2) 2(u) [n] 2(disz) kusz# udu# du10-gan
kusz gu4 udu [...]
ki na-ra-am-i3-li2-ta
ur!-lal3# szu ba-ti
iti ezem-nin-a-zu
mu us2-sa ki-masz ba-hul

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — Princeton 1, 131. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).

Attribution

Image: Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, New Jersey, USA (P126820) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P126820..

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The earliest historical document in human history.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.