Position in chronology
Nisaba 25, 63
About this tablet
A small Early Dynastic administrative tablet from Ur (modern Tell Muqayyar in southern Iraq), now in the British Museum, recording allocations or rations distributed to named officials and institutional personnel — including individuals identified as ensix ('governor'-type figures) of Ur, a person called lu2-dugin2, a 'lady' (nin), and a 'munus-alan' (a woman of statue/image status, possibly a cultic role). The closing line references field (GAN2), a plough (APIN), and further signs now partially broken. This tiny tablet — barely 5 cm across — is a snapshot of the meticulous record-keeping that underpinned the urban temple economy at Ur around 2500 BCE. The survival of named officials and quantity notations makes it a direct witness to how Early Dynastic institutions tracked the flow of goods and labour.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
The tablet opens with a damaged quantity notation, followed by an entry of 2 units for the ensix-official of Ur. Then 25 units go to a person called lu2-dugin2; 8 units to the 'lady' (nin); and some number plus 2 units to 'amar-e2' (possibly 'calf of the house' or a junior household figure). A line reading NIG2 nam follows — the precise meaning is unclear. Further entries record 3 (large units) for an ensix-official of a second institution, then 12 units for another ensix of Ur, and 10 units for a woman of statue/image status. A final line, partly broken, mentions a field measure, a plough, and further signs now lost.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine3(N01@f)# [...] 2(N01@f) , ensix(|PA.SI|)-uri5 2(N14@f) 5(N01@f) , lu2-dugin2 8(N01@f)#? , nin [n] 2(N01@f)# , amar-e2 NIG2# nam#? 3(N14@f) , ensix(|PA.SI|)-|UET2_161b+KI|#? 1(N14@f) 2(N01@f) , ensix(|PA.SI|)#-uri5# 1(N14@f) , munus-alan#-ak IL2 2(N34@f) 3(N14@f) 5(N01@f) , GAN2# du3 APIN ISZ# [...]
Our translation engine — Sonnet 4.6. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Transliteration
3(N01@f)# [...] 2(N01@f) , ensix(|PA.SI|)-uri5 2(N14@f) 5(N01@f) , lu2-dugin2 8(N01@f)#? , nin [n] 2(N01@f)# , amar-e2 NIG2# nam#? 3(N14@f) , ensix(|PA.SI|)-|UET2_161b+KI|#? 1(N14@f) 2(N01@f) , ensix(|PA.SI|)#-uri5# 1(N14@f) , munus-alan#-ak IL2 2(N34@f) 3(N14@f) 5(N01@f) , GAN2# du3 APIN ISZ# [...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED I-II (ca. 2900-2700 BC)) — Nisaba 25, 63. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: British Museum, London, UK (P449050) — 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.