Position in chronology
TMH 05, 118
About this tablet
An Early Dynastic accounting tablet from Nippur, roughly 2500 BCE, recording deliveries of fish. A man named Lugal-nigzu, son of Ur-ura, is credited with batches of carp and other fish measured out in the large 'lidga' capacity unit, plus quantities of split (dried or salted) fish and a jar of fish-oil, all drawn from a named fishing ground. The arithmetic works: 27 + 41 + 5 really does add up to the stated total of 73. It is a glimpse of the freshwater fishery that fed one of Sumer's great temple cities, and of the bookkeeping habit — sub-totals, grand totals, a named responsible party — that makes early Mesopotamian administration recognizable to any modern auditor.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Fish delivery, itemized: 27 measures of carp, 41 measures of zari-fish, and — in a second consignment — 5 more measures of carp, all charged to Lugal-nigzu. Subtotal: 73 measures. (The next section is broken away.) A second subtotal follows: 126 split fish, then 70 more split fish, 2 measures of fish, and one jar of fish-oil. The catch comes from the U-x-ba-ki fishing ground, and Lugal-nigzu, son of Ur-ura, measured it all out and handed it over.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine27 eštub-fish (carp), lidga-measure; 41 zari-fish, lidga-measure; for the second time: 5 eštub-fish, lidga-measure — Lugal-nigzu. Its total: 73 [eštub-fish, lidga-measure]. [...] (break) Its total: 126(?) split fish; 70 ... split fish; 2 ... fish, lidga-measure; 1 jar of fish-oil. Fish of the field U-x-ba-ki; Lugal-nigzu, son of Ur-ura, has measured (them) out to him.
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
2(u@c) 7(asz@c) ku6 esztub lid2-ga 4(u@c) 1(asz@c) ku6 za-ri2 lid2-ga 2(disz@t)-kam-sze3 5(asz@c) ku6 esztub lid2-ga lugal-nig2-zu szu-nigin2-bi 1(gesz2@c) 1(u@c) 3(asz@c)# [esztub lid2-ga] [...] szu-nigin2-be6 2(gesz2@c) [x] 6(asz@c)#? ku6 dar-ra-am6 1(gesz2@c) 1(u@c) ku6 x dar-ra 2(asz@c) ku6 x lid2-ga 1(asz@c) i3-ku6 dug ku6 GAN2 u2-x-ba-ki-kam lugal-nig2-zu dumu ur-ur-ra an-na-ag2
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340 BC)) — TMH 05, 118. 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 (P020532) — 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.