Position in chronology
MAD 4, 146
About this tablet
This is an Old Akkadian herding account from Mesopotamia, from around the 23rd century BCE. It records what a shepherd named Enanne still owed to the institution whose flock he managed. He was short 201 sheep and goats and 49 minas of wool, roughly 24 kilograms. Herders of this period were held responsible for set numbers of animals and fixed amounts of wool, and any shortfall was booked against them as a personal debt. This small tablet is the record of one such accounting.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Shortfall: 135 rams, 22 breeding ewes, 31 breeding nanny-goats and 13 billy-goats, 201 sheep and goats in all. This deficit has been charged to Enanne the shepherd. He is also 49 minas of wool short, and that debt is likewise on Enanne's account.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1. Deficit: 135 rams, 2. 22 mother ewes, 3. 31 mother nanny-goats, 4. 13 billy-goats. 5. Total: 201 sheep and goats of various kinds, 6. the deficit, with Enanne the shepherd 7. has been established (against him). 8. 49 (literally '50 less 1') minas of wool, deficit: 9. it is with Enanne the shepherd.
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
la2-ia3 2(gesz2) 1(u) 5(disz) udu-nita 2(u) 2(disz) u8 ama 3(u) 1(disz) ud5 ama 1(u) 3(disz) masz2-nita szunigin 3(gesz2) 2(u) 1(disz) udu hi-a la2-ia3 en-an-ne2 sipa-da i3-da-szex(SIG7) 5(u) la2 1(disz) siki la2-ia3 ma-na en-an-ne2 sipa-da i3-da-gal2
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — MAD 4, 146. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P215306) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-opus-5-5 (2026-09-20/v8-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.