Umma 034

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P139543

Translation — curated editorial

Editorial

Experimental

Editorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P139543.

Transliteration

1(disz) amar gu4 mu 1(disz)
ur-suen
dumu ur-asznan
1(disz) ab2 mu 1(disz)
lugal-ur2-ra-ni tir
1(disz) amar gu4 mu 2(disz)
AN ARAD2 ra? kal
dumu ur2-tukul
1(disz) ab2 mu 1(disz)
1(disz) sza3 tir
mu-kux(DU)
iti szu-numun

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — Umma 034. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).

Attribution

Image: Institut Catholique, Paris, France (P139543) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P139543..

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The earliest historical document in human history.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.