Position in chronology
Syracuse 193
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P130744.
Transliteration
5(u) 5(disz) gurusz u4 4(disz)-sze3 a-sza3 szara2-ta kab2-ku5 a-sza3 i3-[szum2]-ma-sze3 gi ga6-ga2 a2# lu2# hun-ga2 6(disz) sila3 giri3 nig2-u2-rum kiszib3 nam-sza3-tam ab-ba-gi-na iti dumu-zi mu ha-ar-szi ki-masz ba-hul lu2-szara2 dub-sar dumu ur-sa6-ga
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — Syracuse 193. 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 (P130744) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P130744..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.