Position in chronology
Nik 1, 086
About this tablet
This is a small pillow-shaped clay tablet from Girsu (ancient Tello), recording a disbursement of barley — one of thousands of routine administrative records generated by the great temple households of Early Dynastic southern Mesopotamia around 2400 BCE. It lists two allotments of barley, measured in the standard 'gur saggal' capacity units with their fractional barig- and ban2-subdivisions, given to named individuals, one of whom (Namahni) held the priestly office of gudu4. A named official, Inim-Enlila'anda, is recorded as having taken responsibility for (or received) the transaction, with a final numeral whose exact bookkeeping function is unclear. Texts like this one, part of the Nikolski (Nik 1) tablet group now in the Hermitage, are the backbone of what we know about temple economy, rationing, and personnel in early Sumer.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Twelve gur of barley (by the standard measure) went to Lugal-inun and Dal-mušen. A further two gur, two barig, and four ban of barley went to Namahni, a gudu-priest. Altogether the account comes to fourteen gur, two barig, and three ban of barley. The official Inim-Enlila'anda is recorded as having taken charge of the matter, with a final number, 4, noted alongside — its exact bookkeeping purpose isn't clear from the tablet.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine12 gur (saggal-standard) barley: Lugal-inun, Dal-mušen. 2 gur 2 barig 4 ban2 (barley): Namahni, the gudu-priest. Total: 14 gur 2 barig 3 ban2 (saggal-standard) barley. Inim-Enlila'anda took charge (dab5) — 4.
Our translation engine — Sonnet 5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Spotted an error? Suggest a correction — confirmed corrections feed the engine's knowledge base.
Transliteration
1(u@c) 2(asz@c) sze gur saggal lugal-i3-nun dal-muszen 2(asz@c) 2(barig@c) 4(ban2@c) nam-mah-ni gudu4 szu-nigin2 1(u@c) 4(asz@c) 2(barig@c) 3(ban2@c) gur saggal inim-en-lil2-la2-an-dab5* 4(|ASZxDISZ@t|)
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340 BC)) — Nik 1, 086. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation (P221855) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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Related sources
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.