TCL 02, 5520

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P131609

Translation — curated editorial

Editorial

Experimental

Editorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P131609.

Transliteration

ninda ga-ga-ar-tum 2(disz) sila3 duh
lugal-ki-ag2 nagar
2(disz) ku-ku
1(disz) hu-ba lu2 dingir-ki-ma-at
3(disz) di4-di4-la-me sza3 e2-da-na
2(disz) szu-er3-ra lu2 azlag2
1(disz) ur-gi7-me-esz2
1(disz) a tusz-a ha-ma-ti
3(u)
zi-ga-am3
iti ezem-mah

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — TCL 02, 5520. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).

Attribution

Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P131609) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P131609..

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The earliest historical document in human history.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.