NRVN 1, 115

~2072 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P122331

Translation · reference

Experimental

Source: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P122331.

Why it matters

Transliteration

1(disz) 1/2(disz) gin2 ku3-babbar
ki lugal-ezem-ta
szesz-kal-la
szu ba-ti
iti! sig4-ga
la2-e-de3
mu lugal-bi
in-pa3 i3-la2 nu-la2
3(disz) gin2 ku3-babbar la2-da bi2-du11
iti! <sze>-sag11-ku5 u4 2(u) 1(disz) ba-zal
mu si-mu-ru-um ba-hul

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — NRVN 1, 115. 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: Arkeoloji Müzeleri, Istanbul, Turkey (P122331) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P122331..

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The earliest historical document in human history.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.