Position in chronology
Nik 1, 112
About this tablet
This is a small Early Dynastic III administrative tablet from Girsu (ancient Tello), recording two barley loans made in the household or institutional economy of Lagash. Each entry gives the outstanding barley principal owed by a named individual — an ox-driver named Ur-Baba and a chief merchant named Ur-Emush — followed by a smaller quantity of barley representing the silver-equivalent interest that had already been paid back. A final line names an official, Inim-Enlila-andab, with an associated tally figure, likely the record-keeper or witness responsible for the account. Tablets like this one (from the Nikolski/Hermitage collection) are part of the everyday bureaucratic record of grain lending and debt in one of the earliest literate bureaucracies on earth, roughly 2500–2350 BCE.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Here are two outstanding loans of barley on the books. First: 3 gur, 1 barig, 2 ban2 of barley (measured by the standard 'head' measure) is still owed as principal; 2 barig of barley, representing the silver interest on it, has already been paid back. That debt is charged to Ur-Baba, the ox-driver. Second: 6 gur, 2 barig, 4 ban2 of barley remains outstanding as principal, and 3 barig of barley — again standing in for silver interest — has been repaid. That one belongs to Ur-Emush, the chief merchant. The record closes with the name of the official Inim-Enlila-andab and the number 6, presumably tallying or authorizing the entries.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine3 gur 1 barig 2 ban2 barley, by the sag-gal ("head/chief") measure — barley standing (outstanding, i.e. on loan); 2 barig barley — its silver-interest — has been repaid. Ur-Baba, the ox-driver. 6 gur 2 barig 4 ban2 barley standing (outstanding); 3 barig barley — its silver-interest — has been repaid. Ur-Emush, the chief merchant. Inim-Enlila-andab: 6.
Our translation engine — Sonnet 5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
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Transliteration
3(asz@c) 1(barig@c) 2(ban2@c) sze gur saggal sze gub-ba 2(barig@c) sze ku3 masz-ba i3-su3 ur-ba-ba6 gu4 lah5 6(asz@c) 2(barig@c) 4(ban2@c) sze gub-ba 3(barig@c) sze ku3 masz-ba i3-su3 ur-e2-musz3 gal dam-gar3 inim-en-lil2-la2-an-dab5 6(|ASZxDISZ@t|)
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340 BC)) — Nik 1, 112. 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 (P221881) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-5 (2026-07-12/v7-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.