Position in chronology
AAS 009
About this tablet
A small administrative tablet from the city of Umma in southern Iraq, dating to the Akkadian period (roughly 2350–2150 BCE). It records an allocation or delivery of two lots of beer in vessels of different sizes, notes a surplus in a premium category called ne-sag, and then converts the whole quantity into a barley equivalent — the standard accounting unit of the Mesopotamian bureaucracy. The final line, '6 years, 8 months,' likely records the cumulative period covered by this account, making it a summary ledger entry rather than a single-day transaction. Beer accounting of this kind is extremely common at Umma, reflecting the central role of barley-based drink in paying wages and supplying institutional households.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Two large jars of beer (5-ban size) and two smaller jars (3-ban size) are recorded here, along with a note that there is a ne-sag surplus — an overage on the premium allocation. The combined total converts to 2 barig and 4 ban in barley equivalent. The account covers a period of 6 years and 8 months. The rest of the tablet is not substantially damaged, but the precise administrative context — who received the beer, under whose authority — is not stated on the surviving surface.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine2 jugs of 5-ban beer 2 jugs of 3-ban beer ne-sag surplus Total: 2 barig 4 ban — its barley equivalent 6 years, 8 months
Our translation engine — Sonnet 4.6. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Engine notes
read from photo5 uncertain terms ↓
- ne-sag diri — ne-sag is a Sumerian term often interpreted as a type of premium or first-quality allocation; diri means 'surplus' or 'excess'. The combination could mean 'ne-sag surplus' — an overage on a premium beer allocation — but the exact administrative meaning in this context is debated.
- sze-bi — Literally 'its barley' — a standard formula converting a commodity total into its barley equivalent for accounting purposes. Translation as 'barley equivalent' is conventional.
- 6(disz@t) mu 8(disz@t) iti — Literally '6 years, 8 months'. The administrative function of this notation is unclear; it may record a cumulative accounting period or a date, but parallels are not straightforward. Could also be read as part of a running total formula.
- 2(asz@c) dug — The asz@c sign denotes a capacity jar; dug is the generic word for 'jug/vessel'. The exact vessel type and its precise volume in liters is subject to ongoing metrology debates.
- 3(ban2@c) — The @c modifier on ban2 may indicate a specific variant of the ban measure; standard reading accepted here but sign variant noted.
Reasoning ↓
The photograph shows a small, well-preserved clay tablet with visible horizontal ruling lines dividing the text into registers. The obverse (upper piece in the photo) displays clear cuneiform wedges; I can make out numerical signs at the left of each line and what appear to be DUG (jar) and KAŠ (beer) signs in the first two lines, consistent with the transliteration. The ne-sag and šunigin (total) line signs are harder to confirm at this resolution but the wedge groupings are consistent. The reverse or lower tablet fragment (bottom of photo) shows two lines that likely correspond to the barley-total and year/month lines; the signs are less sharp but not contradictory. The museum accession number 'AO 19762' is clearly inked on the surface. The transliteration uses standard Ur III/Akkadian administrative formulae for beer-jar accounts with barley equivalencies, which is well paralleled at Umma. The '6 years 8 months' notation is unusual and its precise administrative function is uncertain — it could indicate a period of storage, a date reckoning, or an accumulation span. Photo resolution is insufficient to fully verify every sign, hence medium confidence.
Generated by claude-sonnet-4-6 · prompt 2026-05-12/v4-interpretation · May 12, 2026 · 2501 in / 869 out tokens
Transliteration
2(asz@c) dug 5(ban2) kasz 2(asz@c) dug 3(ban2@c) kasz ne-sag diri szunigin 2(barig) 4(ban2) sze-bi 6(disz@t) mu 8(disz@t) iti
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — AAS 009. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P212445) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-4-6 (2026-05-18/v5-modern-rendering).
Related tablets
Related sources
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.
A window into the world's first total state. The Ur III administration tracked every animal, every worker, every shekel — for a population in the millions. The level of paperwork was not exceeded until the modern era.