CUSAS 39, 034

~2072 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P250753

Translation · reference

Experimental

Source: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P250753.

Why it matters

Transliteration

3(u) dabin gur
sza3-bi-ta
5(disz) gin2 ku3-babbar
kiszib3 gu-du-du
1(u) 5(asz) 2(barig) sze-numun gur
kiszib3 lu2-nanna
8(asz) 3(barig) sze szuku-ra gur
kiszib3 lugal-nir
1(barig) 4(ban2) kiszib3 sza3-nin-ga2
1(asz) gur lu2-du10-ga
() 2(u) 8(asz)# 1(barig)# 4(ban2) gur zi-ga
la2-ia3 1(asz) 3(barig)# 2(ban2)# gur
nig2-ka9-ak si-i3-tum
lugal-nir
mu si-mu-ru-um ba-hul

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — CUSAS 39, 034. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format). [year-name] Dated to Šulgi y23 — Simurrum destroyed based on canonical year-name formula in the transliteration.

Attribution

Image: Schøyen Collection, Oslo, Norway (P250753) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P250753..

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The earliest historical document in human history.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.