Position in chronology
HSS 10, 031
About this tablet
An account of field purchases from Gasur (the later Nuzi, in northern Iraq) in the Old Akkadian period, roughly 2300–2200 BCE. Several plots of farmland are listed together with the grain — barley, wheat, and emmer — paid as their purchase price to named individuals, and the grain is totaled at the end. It is early evidence that agricultural land in the Sargonic empire could be bought and sold privately, with cereals serving as the currency, in a town far from the Mesopotamian heartland.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This is a ledger of land bought and paid for in grain. A plot of about 2 eše and 2¼ iku cost roughly 3 gur plus 1 ban 5 sila of barley — that was the purchase price of the field, paid to Erra. A smaller plot of 1 eše 1 iku went for 1 gur 2 barig of wheat. A larger one of 1 bur 1 eše cost 3 barig of emmer, received by someone whose name is damaged. Another full bur of field cost 3 gur 3 barig of barley, received by Zira. Altogether the grain paid out comes to 8 gur 3 barig, and the record closes with the name Šu-ilīsu, presumably the buyer or responsible official.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1. 2(eše)? 2¼ iku of field — 2. 3? gur [...], 1 ban 5 sila of barley: 3. purchase (price) of the field, for Erra(-ra). 4. 1 eše 1 iku of field — 5. 1 gur 2 barig of wheat. 6. 1 bur 1 eše of field — 7. 3 barig of emmer, received by ... 8. 1 bur of field — 9. 3 gur 3 barig of barley, 10. received by Zira. 11. Total: 8 gur 3 barig [... gur]. 12. Šu-ilī[su?].
Our translation engine — Fable 5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
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Transliteration
_2(esze3@c)#? 2(iku@c) 1/4(iku@c) GAN2_ _3(asz@c)#? [...] 1(ban2@c) 5(disz) sila3 sze gur_ _GAN2 sa10_ er3-ra-ra _1(esze3@c) 1(iku@c) GAN2#_ _1(asz@c) 2(barig@c) gig gur_ _1(bur3@c) 1(esze3@c) GAN2_ _3(barig@c) ziz2_ szu ba-x x _1(bur3@c) GAN2_ _3(asz@c) 3(barig@c) sze gur_ szu zi-ra# _szunigin 8(asz@c) 3(barig@c)# [... gur]_ szu-i3-li2#-[su?]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — HSS 10, 031. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA (P213297) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5 (2026-09-20/v8-evolved).
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The earliest historical document in human history. Before this, we have lists, accounts, and dedications. Here, for the first time, a ruler tells us what happened — with names, places, and consequences.
The oldest surviving law code in human history. The principle that the state — not the wronged family — defines and enforces justice begins here.