TCL 02, 5542

~2072 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P131631

Translation · reference

Experimental

Source: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P131631.

Why it matters

Transliteration

2(asz) 4(barig) sze gur
masz2 nu-tuku!
ki ARAD2-ku3-ga-ta
i-bi2-lu-lu
szu ba-ti
egir buru14-sze3 gi4-gi4-dam
mu lugal-bi in-pa3
igi nu-ru-um
igi lugal-he2-gal2
iti ezem-mah
mu si-mu-ru-um ba-hul
i-bi2-lu-lu
dumu i3-lal3-lum

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — TCL 02, 5542. 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: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P131631) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P131631..

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The earliest historical document in human history.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.