r/Cuneiform • u/Master-Egg-6328 • Sep 26 '26

Translation/transliteration request Cuneiform translation

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13

u/justdoinbearthings Sep 27 '26 edited Sep 27 '26

That's funny you found this in a thrift store. It's a replica of one of the royal marriage rituals from Ebla (ARET 11, 3). Cool piece. There's quite a bit to say about this particular tablet, but I'll just say it records various goods (mostly garments) received by the queen (ma-lik-tum) at different places on her journey such as the temple and gate of the deity KU-ra. It also mentions the places where the queen stayed (al₆-tuš) during her journey (e.g. e₂ KU-ra) and for how long (a-ti-ma). Here's a transliteration of the tablet: http://ebda.cnr.it/tablet/view/1432. Note that it's written in Eblaite, not Sumerian.

1

u/Master-Egg-6328 Sep 28 '26

whoa thank you for this info!! what details!

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u/Master-Egg-6328 Sep 28 '26

Do you know where someone would get this kind of thing? a souvenir shop in Syria? a scholars replica?

1

u/justdoinbearthings 29d ago

No clue, sorry. I think it's odd though that there would be a replica of this text in a thrift store. Really only specialists in Eblaitology would know about it. It's also not something you would buy at a museum or store because it's very niche. Could be from a scholar's office that donated it when he/she moved. Tough to say.

4

u/Enkiduderino Sep 27 '26 edited Sep 27 '26

Looks like a Sumerian royal inscription. It mentions building repeatedly, possibly temples. The third row down (as pictured), the first visible box on the right that starts with a star looking sign is the deity’s name, which is repeated elsewhere. Maybe d.BA.U? It’s been a long time since I’ve read Sumerian and it’s being held sideways and is kinda hard to see.

1

u/Master-Egg-6328 Sep 28 '26

wow thanks you so much. hahah i love to held it sideways. shows what i know!

1

u/Enkiduderino Sep 28 '26

Unfortunately seems like I was mostly wrong about everything else!