OIP 115, 239

~2094 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P123721

Translation · reference

Experimental

Source: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P123721.

Why it matters

Transliteration

1(disz) sila4 en-lil2
1(disz) sila4 nin-lil2
mu-kux(DU) szesz-da-da sanga
1(disz) sila4 nanna
1(disz) sila4 utu
mu-kux(DU) [en] inanna
zabar-[dab5] maszkim
[... x]
[e2]-kiszib3-ba-sze3
zi-ga u4 2(u) 1(disz)-kam
iti ezem-mah
mu szul-gi lugal-[e] ur-bi2-lum lu-lu-bu si-mu-ru-um u3 kar2-har asz-sze3 sag-du-bi szu-bur2-a bi2-in-[ra]

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — OIP 115, 239. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format). [year-name] Dated to Šulgi y1 — Šulgi became king based on canonical year-name formula in the transliteration.

Attribution

Image: Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA (P123721) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P123721..

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The earliest historical document in human history.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.