HLC 261 (pl. 123)

~2069 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P110135

Translation · reference

Experimental

Source: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P110135.

Why it matters

Transliteration

la2-ia3 5(gesz2) 3(u) pesz-murgu2
1(u) 7(disz) 1/2(disz) ze2-na
lu2-du10-ga-mu
mu 2(disz) su-su
4(u) 5(asz) gu2 u2-bil2-la
4(u) 5(asz) gu2 im-babbar2
ur-dun szandana
[...] 5(ban2) 5(disz) sila3 zu2-lum
[ur]-esz3-ku3-ga
[...] 5(disz) sila3 zu2-lum#
[...] 1(disz) mu x
si-i3-tum lu2 nig2-dab5-ke4-ne#
giri3 ARAD2-[...]
mu ha-ar-szi[ ba-hul]

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — HLC 261 (pl. 123). No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format). [year-name] Dated to Šulgi y26 — Harši destroyed based on canonical year-name formula in the transliteration.

Attribution

Image: Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA (P110135) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P110135..

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The earliest historical document in human history.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.