Princeton 2, 287

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P201285

Translation — curated editorial

Editorial

Experimental

Editorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P201285.

Transliteration

5(disz) sila3 kasz du 3(disz) sila3 zi3-gu 1(disz) id-gur2 i3 sza3-iri
1(disz) dug dida du
5(disz) sila3 zi3 kaskal-sze3
a-bu-du10 sukkal
a-dam-szah2-sze3 du-ni
iti ezem-szul-gi

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — Princeton 2, 287. 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 (P201285) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P201285..

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The earliest historical document in human history.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.