Position in chronology
Syracuse 138
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P130689.
Transliteration
1(disz) gurusz 4(disz) ug3-IL2 4(ban2)-ta 4(disz) ug3-IL2 3(ban2)-ta u4 1(gesz2) 5(disz)-sze3 a-da gub-ba a-sza3 a-egir-a-u2-da-tur u3 a-sza3 a-u2-bala-gu-la ugula za3-mu kiszib3 lugal-inim-gi-na mu ma2 en-ki ba-ab-du8 lugal-inim-gi-na dumu lugal-nesag-e
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — Syracuse 138. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Syracuse University Library, Syracuse, New York, USA (P130689) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P130689..
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Related sources
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.
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.
The earliest historical document in human history.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.