Syracuse 293

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P130844

Translation — curated editorial

Editorial

Experimental

Editorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P130844.

Transliteration

1(gesz'u) 5(gesz2) sar
sahar ku5-ra2 1(u) 5(disz)-ta
6(gesz2) 3(u) 5(disz) sar
al 5(disz) sar-ta
a2 sza3-gu4-ka
ugula a-gu-gu
kiszib3 ur-utu
mu ma2 en-ki ba-ab-du8
ur-utu
dumu al-la sukkal

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — Syracuse 293. 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 (P130844) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P130844..

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The earliest historical document in human history.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.