STU 50

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P130476

Translation · reference

Experimental

Source: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P130476.

Why it matters

Transliteration

[1(u)] ad3 udu
lugal-nig2-lagar-e lunga
1(disz) ur-gigir muhaldim dumu lu2-dingir-ra# muhaldim
3(disz) a-ra2 1(disz)-kam
2(disz) a-ra2 2(disz)-kam
ba-saga sagi
2(disz) tab-sza-la gesz
4(disz) ki gu-du-du
4(disz) i3-kal-la
1(disz) ur-sukkal muhaldim lugal
szunigin# 2(u) 7(disz) ad3 udu
iti pa4-u2-e
mu e2 szara2 ba-du3

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — STU 50. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).

Attribution

Image: John Rylands Library, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK (P130476) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P130476..

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The earliest historical document in human history.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.