Position in chronology
Syracuse 151
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P130702.
Transliteration
1(gesz2) 1(u) 1/2(disz) gurusz u4 1(disz)-sze3 gi ku5-ra2-a 2(u) sar-ta 3(u) 8(disz) gurusz gi ku5-ra2-a 2(u) 5(disz) sar-ta 1(u) 2(disz) gurusz gi ku5-ra2-a 3(u) sar-ta a2 lu2 hun-ga2 5(disz) sila3-ta a-sza3 GAN2-mah ugula gu2-tar kiszib3 lugal-ku3-zu iti li9-si4 mu ha-ar-szi <<ri igi>> ki-masz ba-hul lugal-ku3-zu dub-sar dumu ur-nigar szusz3
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — Syracuse 151. 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 (P130702) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P130702..
Related tablets
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.