Position in chronology
Syracuse 459
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P131010.
Transliteration
9(disz) ninda gid2 1(disz) ninda dagal 2(disz) 1/2(disz) kusz3 bur3 kin-bi 2(u) 2(disz) 1/2(disz) sar 5(u) la2 1(disz) ninda gid2 2(disz) kusz3 bur3 kin-bi 1(gesz2) 3(u) 8(disz) sar 3(u) ninda gid2 1(disz) kusz3 bur3 kin-bi 3(u) sar kun i7 gibil-sze3 2(u) ninda gid2 1(disz) kusz3 bur3 kin-bi 2(u) sar 6(gesz2) 1(u) 5(disz) ninda gid2 1(disz) kusz3 bur3 kin-bi 6(gesz2) 1(u) 5(disz) sar szunigin 9(gesz2) 5(disz) 1/2(disz) sar kin sahar kin e <sa-dur2>-ra i7 amusz mu us2-sa ur-bi2-lum ba-hul
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — Syracuse 459. 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 (P131010) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P131010..
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.