Position in chronology
TCNU 427
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P135273.
Transliteration
5(disz) sila3 kasz du 3(disz) sila3 ninda 2(disz) gin2 i3 2(disz) gin2 naga ARAD2-nanna gaba-DISZ 2(disz) dug dida 3(ban2)? 1(ban2) ninda 2(disz) gin2 i3 2(disz) gin2 naga 2(barig) dabin 1(disz) udu 1(disz) sila3 i3-gesz sza3-gal kas4 gaba-DISZ sza bala-a-ne giri3 ARAD2-nanna 3(disz) sila3 kasz 2(disz) sila3 ninda 2(disz) gin2 i3 2(disz) gin2 naga 1(disz) ku6 1(disz) sa szum2 i-szar-pa2-dan u4 2(u) la2 3(disz)-kam iti ezem-szul-gi
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — TCNU 427. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Museo di Antichità di Torino, Turin, Italy (P135273) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P135273..
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.
A window into the world's first total state. The Ur III administration tracked every animal, every worker, every shekel — for a population in the millions. The level of paperwork was not exceeded until the modern era.