CDLI Literary 000757, ex. 003 (P346252)
Literary, Old Babylonian, Ur · c. 1900 BCE–1600 BCE
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| Designation | CDLI Literary 000757, ex. 003 |
|---|---|
| ID | P346252 |
| Museum no. | BM — |
| Collection | British Museum, London, UK |
| Language | Sumerian |
| Period | Old Babylonian · c. 1900 BCE–1600 BCE |
| Genre | Literary |
| Find spot | Ur (mod. Tell Muqayyar) |
| Coordinates | 30.9607, 46.1063 |
English translation
By Peterson, Jeremiah · Via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative · CDLI (reuse with citation)
| Line | English |
|---|---|
| obverse 1 | Young man, are you a student of the eduba'a? (Yes,) I am a student of the eduba'a |
| obverse 2 | If you are a student of the eduba'a |
| obverse 3 | Do you know Sumerian? |
| obverse 4 | I can converse by means of Sumerian |
| obverse 5 | ... (if) you are young/junior, how can you converse in/translate your ... |
| obverse 6 | If I hear that of the mouth of my master once or twice |
| obverse 7 | I can repeat that speech (lit. answer) for you |
| obverse 8 | (But even) if your reproduction of that is present, what will you write? |
| obverse 9 | If you(?) inquire after that which I write (you will find out that) |
| obverse 10 | ... my dwelling in the eduba'a ... could not have been less than three months(?) |
| obverse 11 | ... of Sumer and Akkad, from the “syllable alphabet(s)” a-a (Syllable Alphabet B) and me-me (Syllable Alphabet A) |
| obverse 12 | To ... (I) counted out (the number of lines in a given manuscript?) and (I) wrote |
| obverse 13 | From the various entries/names of (the personal name list) Inanna |
| obverse 14 | Until “the animals of the steppe” (commentary or perhaps the ur5-ra list of animals) to the end of “person” (=) “he” (the lexical list lu2 = ša), (I) wrote |
| obverse 15 | I can find their signs |
| obverse 16 | Thus I explain their writings and solutions |
| obverse 17 | Follow me (lit. seize behind me) |
| obverse 18 | I cannot block anything for you |
| obverse 19 | And the (extract of) the professions list lu2 = šu that was assigned to me on my “hand tablet” |
| obverse 20 | I(?) can produce a sequence of six hundred entries |
| obverse 21 | The account of my days residing in the school are established |
| reverse 1 | My idle days are three days per month |
| reverse 2 | The various festivals are three days per month |
| reverse 3 | In the midst (of what remains) in the month there are 24 days |
| reverse 4 | My dwelling in the school is not (measured with) deductible days |
| reverse 5 | In each single day, my master (requires) that I produce my nigsuru assignment(?) 4 times |
| reverse 6 | The account having been established, my knowledge of the scribal art is not taken away(?) |
| reverse 7 | Now I can apply myself(?) to the contents of tablets, to multiplication tables and calculations(?) |
| reverse 8 | The scribal art, putting entries (in their context)(!?), without(?) nigsuru assignments(?) ... |
| reverse 9 | My master, speaking pleasantly, (his) prayer (on my behalf!?) |
| reverse 10 | (His) treating (me) as a colleague, it is something that is to make the heart rejoice |
| reverse 11 | I know my scribal art |
| reverse 12 | I do not restrict ... concerning anything |
| reverse 13 | My master selects one sign |
| reverse 14 | From my memory I add one or two (more) |
| reverse 15 | At the agreed point, after I reside (there) |
| reverse 16 | Regarding the Sumerian language, the scribal art, (its) content, counting and accounting(?) |
| reverse 17 | I equal you |
| reverse 18 | I (would) converse with you by means of Sumerian |
| reverse 19 | But (even) if it (the option of my answering!?) is present(?), on account of the fact that Sumerian is obscure for you |
| reverse 20 | I shall go to write a tablet (instead) |
| reverse 21 | The tablet of one gur of barley until 600 gur of barley (metrological table) |
| reverse 22 | The tablet of one gin silver until 10 mana of silver (metrological table) |
| reverse 23 | Partnership (model contracts), so that one can choose (to include) the inspection of a one gun amount (of silver) |
| reverse 24 | Purchasing a house, field, orchard, or male or female slave (model contracts) |
Transliteration (ATF)
From Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative · CDLI: reuse of catalogue/transliteration data with citation of CDLI; images restricted (not fetched)
| Line | ATF | Machine English (draft) |
|---|---|---|
| obverse | ||
| 1 | lu2-tur dumu# [...] | |
| 2 | tukumbi dumu# e2-dub-ba-[...] | |
| 3 | [eme]-gir15 e#-zu#-u3#-am3# | |
| 4 | [eme]-gir15-ta inim# e-da-bala-e-en | |
| 5 | [...] al#?-tur#-re-en a-na-gin7-nam x-za inim# ab-bala-e-en | |
| 6 | nig2# ka# um#-mi-a-ga2-ka# disz min gesz ba-ni-tuku-am3 | |
| 7 | inim#-bi# ga-mu-ra-ab-gi4 | |
| 8 | nig2#? <<AB?>> ab-gi4-gi4-na-zu he2-ib-da-gal2 a#-na-am3 ab-sar-re-en | |
| 9 | tukumbi# nig2 ab#?-sar-re-en-na-gu10 en3 mu#-e-szi-tar-re | |
| 10 | x x x e2#-dub#-ba#-a i-in-ti-e-na-gu10 [...] x iti esz5-am3 ba-ra-ab-lal | |
| 11 | x ki#-en#-gi# ki#-uri-ke4 a-a me-me-ta | |
| 12 | x-x-sze3#? i3#?-szid# u3 i3-sar | |
| 13 | mu# didli# {d}inanna-tesz2-ta | |
| 14 | en#-na nig2-zi#-gal2 edin-na za3 lu2 szu-ka i3-sar | |
| 15 | gu#-szum2#-bi mu-da-pa3-de3-en | |
| 16 | sar#-re-bi u3 ki-bur2-bi inim-gu10 a-ab-si | |
| 17 | egir-gu10 ha#-ha-za-mu-un | |
| 18 | nig2-na-me nu-mu-ra-da-gib-be2-en | |
| 19 | u3 lu2 szu im-szu-ga2 lu2 ma-an-gub-ba | |
| 20 | mu 1(gesz'u)-kam a-ra2-bi mu-da-ab-szum2-mu | |
| 21 | nig2#-ka9# u4 e2-dub-ba-a i3-tusz-u3-na-gu10 gar-ra | |
| reverse | ||
| 1 | u4 duh-a-gu10 iti-da u4 esz5-am3 | |
| 2 | ezem didli-bi iti-da u4 esz5-am3 | |
| 3 | sza3-ba iti-da u4 2(u) 4(disz)-am3 | |
| 4 | e2-dub-ba-a i-in-ti-i-na-gu10 u4-da gid2-da nam-me | |
| 5 | u4 disz-e um-mi-a-gu10 nig2-sur-ru-gu10 4(disz)-ta-am3 mu-ub-szum2-mu | |
| 6 | nig2-ka9-bi gar-ra nam-dub-sar i3!-zu-a-gu10 nu-ub-tum3 | |
| 7 | a-da-al-ta sza3 dub-ba a-ra2 nig2-ka9-sze3 ba-e-de3-ga2-ga2-de3-en | |
| 8 | nam-dub-sar mu gar nig2-sur-ru nu-u3-gar NIG2 ba-ba-e-de3-KA | |
| 9 | um-mi-a-gu10 inim sa6-sa6-ge du10-u4 ak | |
| 10 | nam-gi4-me-esz3 ak nig2 sza3 hul2-le-dam | |
| 11 | nam-dub-sar-gu10 mu-ub-zu-zu | |
| 12 | nig2-na-me nu-mu-szi-ib-sir3-re-en | |
| 13 | um-mi-a-gu10 gu-szum2 disz#-am3# mu-pa3-de3#-a | |
| 14 | gesztux(|GISZ.TUG2|)-gu10-ta disz [...] bi2#-ib-tah-e-en | |
| 15 | ki uludin-gu10-usz a-ba#?-da#?-tusz-u3-na | |
| 16 | eme-gir15 nam-dub-sar sza3 dub-ba szid nig2-ka9-sze3 | |
| 17 | e-da-sa2-sa2-e-en | |
| 18 | eme-gir15-ta inim e-da-bala-e-en | |
| 19 | he2-eb-da-gal2 KA-gir15 i-ri-dul-la-asz | |
| 20 | dub# sar-re-de3! ga#-DU# | |
| 21 | dub asz sze gur-ta za3 1(gesz'u)# [...] | |
| 22 | dub disz gin2-ta za3# [...] | |
| 23 | nam-tab-ba gurum2 asz gu2# [...] | |
| 24 | e2# a#-sza3# {gesz#?}[kiri6 ...] | |
Sources & licences
- Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative · CDLI: reuse of catalogue/transliteration data with citation of CDLI; images restricted (not fetched) · Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (CDLI), https://cdli.earth/ ; cite CDLI and the P-number
- Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus (ORACC) · CC BY-SA 3.0 (ORACC default); per-file JSON license fields say: This data is released under the CC0 license (133618) · ORACC project editions, https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ ; cite the individual project (see texts.extra_json.project)
Cite the original edition and translator. Page generated by Unread Atlas from the public corpus export of 2026-10-11.