Position in chronology
CST 197
About this tablet
This is a small livestock record from Umma in southern Iraq, written in the Sargonic (Akkadian) period around 2300–2150 BCE. It lists sheep and goats in two groups, one linked to a man called Ur-Šara and one to Ur-Suen. Several of the animals are described as 'fattened', meaning they were fed up for quality, probably for offerings or the table. The last lines say the animals make up an outstanding shortfall owed by a man named Abilu and are now in his keeping. It shows how Sargonic administrators kept track of what individual herders or officials still owed the flock.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Livestock tally. From Ur-Šara: one breeding ewe, one ram, one fattened male lamb, four breeding nanny-goats and two kids. From Ur-Suen: one fattened female lamb, three fattened lambs, two full-grown goats, two fattened female kids and two fattened kids. These sheep and goats are what Abilu still owes (one sign before his name can't be read), and he is holding them. Dated year 2, month 8.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engineObverse (sections as given in the source; no side markers are supplied) 1. 1 mother ewe 2. 1 ram 3. 1 male lamb, fattened 4. 4 mother nanny-goats 5. 2 kids 6. (These are) of Ur-Šara. 7. 1 female lamb, fattened 8. 3 lambs, fattened 9. 2 full-grown kids/he-goats 10. 2 female kids, fattened 11. 2 kids, fattened 12. (These are) of Ur-Suen. 13. The sheep (and goats), the deficit of [x?] Abilu, 14. are with him (i.e. are in his keeping). 15. Year 2, month 8.
Our translation engine — Opus 5.5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
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Transliteration
1(asz@c) ama u8 1(asz@c) udu-nita 1(asz@c) sila4 nita sza3-du10 4(asz@c) ud5 ama 2(asz@c) masz2 ur-szara2-ka-kam 1(asz@c) kir11 sza3-du10 3(asz@c) sila4 sza3-du10 2(asz@c) masz2 gal-gal 2(asz@c) asz2-gar3 sza3-du10 2(asz@c) masz2 sza3-du10 ur-suen-ka-kam udu la2-ia3 x? a-bi2-lu5 i3-da-se12 2(disz@t) mu 8(disz@t) itix(UD@s)
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — CST 197. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Claremont School of Theology, Claremont, California, USA (P462402) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-opus-5-5 (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.