Position in chronology
OIP 014, 066
About this tablet
This is an Early Dynastic administrative tablet from Adab (modern Bismaya), listing quantities of silver — measured in minas and shekels, with one entry oddly in a dry-capacity unit (ban2) — disbursed or credited to a series of named individuals and officials. The closing lines explain that this silver came from (or was accounted against) Shuruppak, one of the great cities of early Sumer, and was 'brought out' from there. Tablets like this are small fragments of a vast bureaucratic apparatus that tracked precious metal moving between cities, temples, and private individuals nearly 4,500 years ago.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This record tracks silver payments to a list of people. The top of the tablet is broken, but it begins with an amount of silver silver owed to someone, then a partly-lost name 'Ur-lamsag.' It then lists: the official Nin-ezem received 1/3 mina 4 shekels; Ur-um-x received 1/3 mina; someone called KA-esar(?) received 1 ban2 (a dry measure, oddly mixed in here); another 1/3 mina minus 2 shekels of silver is recorded; a man named Suda-zi gets one unit marked 'head' (first-rank); and Mu-...-bala, son of a person or family called Muszen-buru5-dal, receives 12 shekels. The tablet closes by noting that this silver belonged to Shuruppak and was disbursed or issued out from that city's account. The surface is worn in places, so a few names and terms remain uncertain.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine[n] shekels of silver [...] [...] (traces, illegible) [...] Ur-lamsag(?) 1/3 (mina) 4 (shekels): nu-esz3 (official) Nin-ezem 1/3 (mina): Ur-um-x 1 ban2: KA-esar(?) 1/3 (mina) minus 2 shekels of silver 1 (unit): head/foremost Suda-zi 1 (unit): head/foremost 12 shekels of silver Mu-...-bala son of Muszen-buru5-dal silver of Shuruppak — was brought out (from there).
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
[n] ku3# gin2 [...] [...] x x x x? [...] ur-lam#?-sag#? 1/3(disz@c) 4(disz@t) nu-esz3 nin-ezem 1/3(disz@c) ur-um-x 1(ban2@c) KA?-e2?-sar 1/3(disz@c) la2 2(disz@t) ku3 gin2 1(asz@c) sag sud3-da-zi 1(asz@c) sag 1(u@c) 2(disz@t) ku3 gin2 mu-x-[x?]-bala dumu muszen# buru5-dal-kam ku3 szuruppak ab-ta-e3-am3
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340 BC)) — OIP 014, 066. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA (P222252) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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