Position in chronology
MRAH O.5011
About this tablet
An Early Dynastic administrative tablet of uncertain southern Mesopotamian origin, now held in Brussels, recording two disbursements of a commodity — most likely a processed foodstuff or measured good — along with bronze, to named officials at distinct institutional households. Two men both called Ur-gu receive allocations: one a cupbearer attached to the 'House of NE-DAG,' the other a cook at what appears to be a kitchen establishment. The second transaction is routed through the authority of Ištaran — either the city deity of Der or a person bearing that divine name — and overseen by a šuš3 official. These spare, columnar records represent the earliest surviving form of systematic institutional accounting in human history.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Two allocations are recorded on this tablet. The first assigns [n+]2 barig of gamur and [n] sila3 of bronze to a cupbearer named Ur-gu at the House of NE-DAG; several further names follow — including GA-duh-hum and Ab-zi — but that part of the tablet is damaged and the reading is uncertain. The second gives 2 ban2 of gamur to another Ur-gu, this one a cook at the kitchen establishment, with the transaction routed through Ištaran and a šuš3 official listed as the responsible party.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine[n+]2 barig of gamur, [n] sila3 of bronze — Ur-gu, cupbearer, House of NE-DAG; [table?] [sag-x?] GA-duh-hum, Ab-zi. 2 ban2 of gamur — Ur-gu, cook, House of the cook; Ištaran — via him — šuš3.
Our translation engine — Sonnet 4.6. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Transliteration
[n] 2(barig@c) gamurx(LAK490) sila3 zabar ur-gu sagi e2 NE-DAG? banszur#? sag-x? GA?-duh-hum ab-zi 2(ban2@c) gamurx(LAK490) ur-gu muhaldim e2 muhaldim? isztaran giri3-ni szusz3
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIa (ca. 2600-2500 BC)) — MRAH O.5011. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Musées royaux d’Art et d’Histoire, Brussels, Belgium (P452985) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-4-6 (2026-05-28/v6-glossary-aware).
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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.
Marks the boundary between proto-writing and writing. We can see signs being used systematically — but not yet phonetically. The leap to recording speech itself comes a few centuries later.
The earliest historical document in human history. Before this, we have lists, accounts, and dedications. Here, for the first time, a ruler tells us what happened — with names, places, and consequences.