Position in chronology
Adab 0839
About this tablet
A short Old Akkadian work-account from Adab (modern Bismaya), written around 2300 BCE. It records shortfalls — labor quotas not met — charged against named officials: the chief scribe, a man called Ur-Ištaran, and the surveyor who measured out the work with the measuring rope. The work itself was digging or maintenance along the Eš-pešša canal, measured in nindan (rods of about six meters), and the account closes by noting that this was the third day. It is a tiny window into how Mesopotamian bureaucrats assigned, measured, and audited canal labor person by person.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Outstanding work still owed: by the chief scribe; by Ur-Ištaran, the u5-man, who answers to the chief scribe; and by the surveyor with the measuring rope. [Gap] 3 1/2 rods of work on the outer bank. [Gap] work — that is the shortfall. This concerns the Eš-pešša canal. Day three.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engineDeficit (outstanding balance) of the chief scribe. [Defi]cit of Ur-Ištaran, the u5-man, (under) the chief scribe. [Defi]cit of the man of the measuring-rope (surveyor). [...] 3 1/2 nindan — work on the outer (bank). [...] work — the deficit. (On) the Eš-pešša canal. It is the 3rd day.
Our translation engine — Opus 5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
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Transliteration
la2-ia3 dub-sar-mah [la2]-ia3 ur-isztaran lu2-u5 dub#-sar-mah [la2]-ia3 lu2 esz2-gid2 [...] 3(disz) 1/2(disz) nindax(DU) kin bar-ra [...] kin la2-ia3 i7# esz5-pesz-sza4 u4 3(disz@t)-kam-ma-am3
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — Adab 0839. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA (P217544) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-opus-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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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.