TMH 05, 066

~2400 BCE·Early Dynastic·P020480

About this tablet

An Early Dynastic land register from Nippur, roughly 2500 BCE, listing plots of farmland measured in the Sumerian area units bur, eše and iku, each assigned to a named man. The plots are labelled 'tug-tag', a term linked to cloth-working, so these may be fields allotted to support weavers or textile workers attached to a temple or household. It shows how, centuries before the Ur III empire, Nippur's administrators were already parcelling out land and totalling it on clay.

Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.

Written in modern English

This is a list of farmland holdings. En-lil-al-sa has 4 bur and 1 eše (about 28 hectares); Ka-ba has 3 bur, 2 eše and 1 iku; Lugal-teš-mu has 6 bur 2 eše; Zur-zur has 15 bur and 2½ iku; Ša-AB has about 10 bur, the exact figure broken; Ur-šubur has 10 bur; Sag-be-ea has 10 bur 4 iku; and Lugal-kiši-gal has 14 bur. On the back the scribe writes a grand total: 13 bur, 1 eše and 1½ iku of 'tug-tag' field — a total that, as written, does not match the sum of the entries above.

A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.

Translation — our engine

Our engine

Medium confidence

Obverse 4 bur3 1 eše field (GAN2), tug-tag (of the weavers?): En-lil-al-sa. 3 bur3 2 eše 1 iku: Ka-ba. 6 bur3 2 eše: Lugal-teš-mu. 1 bur'u 5 bur3 2 1/2 iku: Zur-zur. [1 bur'u] ... : Ša-AB. 1 bur'u: Ur-šubur. 1 bur'u 4 iku: Sag-be-ea. 1 bur'u 4 bur3: Lugal-kiši-gal. Reverse Total: 1 bur'u 3 bur3 1 eše 1 1/2 iku field (GAN2), tug-tag.

Our translation engine — Fable 5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.

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Transliteration

4(bur3@c) 1(esze3@c) GAN2 tug2-tag
en-lil2-al6-sa6
3(bur3@c) 2(esze3@c) 1(iku@c) ka-ba
6(bur3@c) 2(esze3@c) lugal-tesz2-mu
1(bur'u@c) 5(bur3@c) 2(iku@c) 1/2(iku@c) zur-zur
[1(bur'u@c)] x sza3-AB#
1(bur'u@c) ur-szubur
1(bur'u@c) 4(iku@c) sag-be6#-e3-a
1(bur'u@c) 4(bur3@c) lugal-kiszi17-gal
szu-nigin2 1(bur'u@c) 3(bur3@c) 1(esze3@c) 1(iku@c) 1/2(iku@c) GAN2 tug2-tag

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340 BC)) — TMH 05, 066. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).

Attribution

Image: Hilprecht Collection, University of Jena, Germany (P020480) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).

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