Position in chronology
BIN 08, 012
About this tablet
An Early Dynastic barley distribution ledger from Mesopotamia, probably dating to around 2500–2350 BCE. A responsible official named Ur-Si oversees the disbursement of barley in 'gur-saggal' (large-capacity gur) measures to a list of named individuals — including a ritual purification priest attached to a temple called E2-mud. Strikingly, one recipient carries the Semitic name Ishtup-Il ('El/God has given'), a reminder that Sumerian administrative networks incorporated people of multiple linguistic backgrounds. The scribal formula 'shu-nigin2' (grand total) at the close of the entries is the standard bookkeeping closure of Early Dynastic accounting.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This tablet tracks a barley disbursement overseen by Ur-Si. Starting from an initial allocation of [17] large gur-measures, barley is parcelled out: 2 barig each to Shu-ash3 and E2-mah-da, then 1 barig 2 ban2 to U2-U2, 1 barig 3 ban2 to Ishtup-Il, and a full gur each to Nin-tur-tur, the priest of the E2-mud temple, Du-du, and Bara2-a-ra2-nu2. The running grand total comes to 24 gur and 5 ban2 of barley. The final two lines are partially damaged but record an additional allocation involving a senior official (the lu2-mah) and roughly 5 gur to someone named Namlugal-nidum; those lines are too broken to read completely.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine[17] gur-saggal of barley — Ur-Si 2 barig — Shu-ash3 2 barig — E2-mah-da 1 barig 2 ban2 — U2-U2 1 barig 3 ban2 — Ishtup-Il 1 gur — Nin-tur-tur 1 gur — the gudu4-priest of E2-mud 1 gur — Du-du 1 gur — Bara2-a-ra2-nu2 Total: 24 gur 5 ban2 of barley, gur-saggal measure [x?] — the lu2-mah (chief official) [n?] 5 gur? — Namlugal-nidum
Our translation engine — Sonnet 4.6. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Transliteration
[1(u@c)] 7(asz@c)# sze# gur saggal# ur2#-si# 2(barig@c) szu#-asz3 2(barig@c) e2-mah-da 1(barig@c) 2(ban2@c) U2-U2 1(barig@c) 3(ban2@c) isz-tup#-il 1(asz@c) nin-tur-tur 1(asz@c) gudu4# e2-mud# 1(asz@c) du-du 1(asz@c) bara2-a-ra2-nu2 szu-nigin2 2(u@c) 4(asz@c) 5(ban2) sze gur saggal [x?] lu2-mah [n?] 5(asz@c)#? nam-lugal#-ni-du10
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340 BC)) — BIN 08, 012. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Nies Babylonian Collection, Yale Babylonian Collection, New Haven, Connecticut, USA (P221540) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-4-6 (2026-05-28/v6-glossary-aware).
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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.