Position in chronology
ASJ 14, 102 6
About this tablet
An Old Akkadian (Sargonic) grain account from Umma in southern Iraq, roughly 2300–2150 BCE. Seven men — most of them carrying the same occupational tag, gu-sur — are each credited with a quantity of barley, and the scribe then adds up the whole lot: some 1,305 gur, on the order of 390,000 litres, an enormous institutional harvest rather than a private transaction. The grain is booked as received by a man named Enna-dingir, with an official called Lugal-saga acting as the responsible commissioner. It is a snapshot of how the Akkadian state kept its provincial granaries under written control, with named individuals answerable for every measure.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Barley receipts, measured in the standard 'head' gur and certified as correct: Lul-gu-ak, gu-sur — 521 gur, 2 barig, 5 sila; Abba-saga, gu-sur — 237 gur; E-halub-e, gu-sur — 63 gur; Ur-nigar, gu-sur — 100 gur; Lugal-kisal — 60 gur; Amar-ezinu, brother of Ur-PA — 23 gur, 1 barig, 2 ban2; Dada, gu-sur — 300 gur. Grand total: 1,305 gur less 3 ban2 5 sila, same standard measure, checked. Enna-dingir took delivery. Lugal-saga signed off as commissioner.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1. 521 gur 2 barig 5 sila of barley, by the sag-gal gur, (measured) exact: 2. Lul-gu-ak, the gu-sur; 3. 237 (gur): Abba-saga, the gu-sur; 4. 63 (gur): E-halub-e, the gu-sur; 5. 100 (gur): Ur-nigar, the gu-sur; 6. 60 (gur): Lugal-kisal; 7. 23 gur 1 barig 2 ban2: Amar-ezinu, 8. brother of Ur-PA; 9. 300 (gur): Dada, the gu-sur. 10. Total(?): 1,305 gur less 3 ban2 5 sila of barley, by the sag-gal gur, (measured) exact. 11. Enna-dingir 12. received (it). 13. Lugal-saga was the commissioner (maškim).
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
8(gesz2@c) 4(u@c) 1(asz@c) 2(barig@c) 5(disz) sila3 sze gur sag-gal2 si-sa2 lul-gu#-ak# gu-sur 4(gesz2@c) la2 3(asz@c) ab-ba-sa6-ga# gu-sur 1(gesz2@c) 3(asz@c) e2-ha-lu-ub2-e gu-sur 1(gesz2@c) 4(u@c) ur-nigar gu-sur 1(gesz2@c) lugal-kisal 2(u@c) 3(asz@c) 1(barig@c) 2(ban2@c) amar#-ezinu3 szesz ur-PA 5(gesz2@c) da-da gu-sur szunigin#? 2(gesz'u@c) 1(gesz2@c) 4(u@c) 5(asz@c) la2 3(ban2@c) 5(disz) sila3 sze gur sag-gal2# si-sa2 en-na-dingir-e szu ba-ti lugal#-sa6 maszkim
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — ASJ 14, 102 6. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Land Berlin, Berlin, Germany (P235690) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-opus-5 (2026-09-20/v8-evolved).
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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.