Princeton 2, 238

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P201236

Translation — curated editorial

Editorial

Experimental

Editorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P201236.

Transliteration

[n] ninda 2(ban2) 5(disz) sila3 dabin
[... aga3]-us2 sukkal-mah
4(disz) sila3 dam-gal-nun-ama-mu
8(disz) sila3 asz-gu-usz-num2
1(disz) sila3 lu2 tu-ra
1(ban2) sza3-ki-bi
4(disz) sila3 lugal-sur
6(disz) sila3 [...]
u4 1(u) 9(disz)-kam
iti sze-il2-la

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — Princeton 2, 238. 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 (P201236) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P201236..

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The earliest historical document in human history.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.