Position in chronology
USC 6805
Not yet translated
This tablet is catalogued with its transliteration and photographed, but no published translation exists yet. Our translation engine works through the untranslated corpus every night, oldest first — this page will update the day its turn comes. If you are a specialist and can read it, we would love your help.
The world it comes from
A bureaucratic golden age, the Code of Ur-Nammu.
From the same catalogue range (near P235616)
Transliteration
[n] ma2 1(u) gur masz2 nig2-sag du8# ku3# 5(disz) gin2-sze3 ku6-du3 giri3# i3-li2-sa6#? dub-sar [...] mu# lugal# [i3]-pa3# igi a-tu# [x] igi nam-ha-ni# [mu ...] x x [...] lugal# utu x [...] lugal# x-[...] ezem#?-[...] mu# en# [...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — USC 6805. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Archaeological Research Collection, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA (P235616) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P235616..
Related tablets
Related sources
The earliest historical document in human history.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.
The oldest surviving law code in human history. The principle that the state — not the wronged family — defines and enforces justice begins here.
Not the first law code, but the most complete and the most famous. Inscribed on a black diorite stele over two meters tall, displayed in a public place — law made visible, law made monumental.