Position in chronology
TCBI 2/1, 41
About this tablet
A small Early Dynastic ration list, probably from Zabalam in southern Iraq, recording measured allotments of coarse barley flour (dabin) to six named individuals — among them Maš-tur, Nin-šeš-da and Nin-mu-dib. The amounts run from about 100 to 180 liters each, the kind of bulk grain issue that supported a household or work gang for a stretch of time. The closing line gives a count of thirteen and a date in the seventh month. It is ordinary institutional bookkeeping: the flour that kept dependents of a temple or estate fed, written down so the storehouse could be balanced.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Flour issued from the store: 3 barig of coarse barley flour to Maš-tur; 3 barig to Nin-šeš-da; 2 barig 4 ban of it to Ama-ki, and the same to Za3-mu; 1 barig 4 ban to Mi-na-ni; 2 barig 2 ban to Nin-mu-dib. The account closes with a count of thirteen and the date — the seventh month of the year. The back of the tablet was left blank.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine3 barig of dabin-flour — Maš-tur. 3 barig — Nin-šeš-da. 2 barig 4 ban2 — Ama-ki. 2 barig 4 ban2 — Za3-mu. 1 barig 4 ban2 — Mi-na-ni. 2 barig 2 ban2 — Nin-mu-dib. 13 (persons/units); year: month 7. (Reverse: uninscribed.)
Our translation engine — Opus 5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
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Transliteration
3(barig@c) dabin masz-tur 3(barig@c) nin-szesz-da 2(barig@c) 4(ban2@c) ama-ki 2(barig@c) 4(ban2@c) za3-mu 1(barig@c) 4(ban2@c) mi-na-ni 2(barig@c) 2(ban2@c) nin-mu-dib 1(u) 3(disz@t) mu iti 7(disz@t)
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340 BC) ?) — TCBI 2/1, 41. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Banca d'Italia, Rome, Italy (P382049) — 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.