Position in chronology
TCBI 2/1, 28
About this tablet
A small Early Dynastic ledger, probably from Zabalam in southern Iraq (about 2400 BCE), listing barley allotments to a group of named individuals — most of them women, judging by the nin- and ama- names. Each person receives one standard measure (a gur), except Nin-abba, who gets a smaller portion of 2 barig 4 ban₂. The closing note, '8 months, 2 years,' appears to record the period the rations cover, which makes this a long-term maintenance account rather than a one-off handout. The top of the tablet is broken, so the heading and the first entries are lost.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
The opening lines are broken — one mentions an amount in gur, the next is illegible. Then the roster: one measure each for Gan-saman, Nin-nigna, Maš-tur, Nin-mu-dib, Ama-ki, Ama-da, Nin-KA, and Ama-tir-ku; Nin-abba receives a reduced share of 2 barig 4 ban₂. At the bottom the scribe notes the term covered: eight months and two years.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine[...] gur [...] ... [1 (gur)] Gan-saman [1 (gur)] Nin-nigna [1 (gur)] Maš-tur 1 (gur) Nin-mu-dib 1 (gur) Ama-ki 1 (gur) Ama-da 1 (gur) Nin-KA 1 (gur) Ama-tir-ku 2 barig 4 ban₂ Nin-abba 8 months, 2 years.
Our translation engine — Opus 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
[...] gur# [...] x [1(asz@c)] gan#-samanx(|SZE.NUN.SZE3.BU|) [1(asz@c)] nin#-nig2-na [1(asz@c)] masz#-tur 1(asz@c) nin-mu-dib 1(asz@c) ama-ki 1(asz@c) ama-da 1(asz@c) nin-KA 1(asz@c) ama-tir-ku3 2(barig@c) 4(ban2@c) nin-ab-ba 8(disz@t) iti 2(disz@t)# mu
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340 BC) ?) — TCBI 2/1, 28. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Banca d'Italia, Rome, Italy (P382034) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-opus-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.