Position in chronology
TCBI 2/1, 34
About this tablet
A small Early Dynastic accounting tablet, probably from the region of Zabalam in southern Iraq, listing measured allotments of grain against the names of the people who received them. Among them are an overseer (nu-banda) and several individuals — Za-mu, Nin-mu-dib, Nin-KA, Mi-na-ni, Ama-ki — some of whom appear twice, on the front and again on the back, as though two separate rounds of distribution were recorded on the same tablet. The quantities are given in barig and ban, the standard Sumerian capacity measures, and run from a couple of liters to well over a hundred. It is ordinary household or estate bookkeeping, the sort of record that made large institutions possible in the first place.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
A grain-issue list. The opening entry, for Ama-ki, is broken away. Then: 2 barig 3 ban to the overseer; a lost figure plus 3 ban to Za-mu; 2 barig 4 ban to Nin-mu-dib; an unreadable amount to Gan-e; 2 barig 2 ban to Nin-KA; an unreadable amount to Mi-na-ni. The back of the tablet continues the same accounting with smaller sums: something plus 1 ban to Nin-KA, 1 barig to Ama-ki, and 2 ban to Mi-na-ni. The rest of the reverse is blank.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engineObverse [...] Ama-ki 2 barig 3 ban of (grain) — the overseer (nu-banda) [x] barig 3 ban — Za-mu 2 barig 4 ban — Nin-mu-dib [x amount] — Gan-[e] 2 barig 2 ban — Nin-KA [x amount] — Mi-na-ni Reverse [x] 1 ban — Nin-KA 1 barig — Ama-ki 2 ban — Mi-na-ni
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
[...] ama-ki 2(barig) 3(ban2) nu-banda3 [x] n(barig) 3(ban2) za3-mu 2(barig) 4(ban2) nin-mu-dib x gan-[e2] 2(barig) 2(ban2) nin-KA# [x] mi#-na-ni [x] 1(ban2) nin-KA 1(barig) ama-ki 2(ban2) mi-na-ni
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340 BC) ?) — TCBI 2/1, 34. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Banca d'Italia, Rome, Italy (P382041) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-opus-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.