Position in chronology
Nisaba 25, 64
About this tablet
A small Early Dynastic administrative tablet from Ur, recording disbursements or allocations of goods — most likely rations, animals, or personnel — across a set of named individuals or institutional categories associated with the temple sphere. The entries combine numerical notations in the archaic N14/N01/N34 system with personal names invoking the moon-god Nanna and the god Enki, as well as cultic titles such as 'kindagal' (chief lamentation-singer). The tablet is a routine piece of temple bookkeeping from roughly 2600–2500 BCE, shedding light on the administrative staff and cultic personnel attached to a sanctuary at Ur. Its value lies in preserving rare Early Dynastic personal and institutional names in an economic context.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This tablet records a series of allocations: approximately 45 units go to 'True-Seed-of-Nanna'; 30 units to the chief lamentation-singer; a partially preserved entry covers 'Nanna-is-a-Hero'; and a further smaller allotment goes to 'True-Aya.' A badly damaged line follows, then single-unit entries for someone connected to 'ga,' an official of Enki, and a category linked to the 'great place' (kingal). The final readable entry assigns 4 units to the 'seat/base of the people of Uri.' Several lines in the middle and end are too damaged to read.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine4(N14) 5(N01) [units] — nunuz-zi-nanna ("true eggs/seed of Nanna") 3(N14) [units] — kindagal ("great lamentation-singer" / chief cultic mourner) 1(N14) n [units] — Nanna-ur-sag ("Nanna is a hero") n 4(N01) [units] — aya-zi-da ("true/right-hand aya") [...] x EN x [...] 1(N34) [units] — [...] ga 1(N34) [units] — pa-en-ki ("branch/official of Enki") 1(N34) [units] — NIG2 kingal TE [...] 4(N34) [units] — DUR2 UN-uri ("seat/base of the people of Uri/Ur")
Our translation engine — Sonnet 4.6. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Transliteration
4(N14@f)# 5(N01@f) , nunuzx(SAL)-zi-nannax(|SZESZ.NA|)# 3(N14@f) , kindagal# 1(N14@f)# n , nannax(|SZESZ.NA|)-ur-sag# n 4(N01@f)# , aya2-zi-da [...] x EN# x [...] 1(N34@f)# , [...] ga 1(N34@f) , pa-en-ki 1(N34@f) , NIG2 kingal# TE# [...] 4(N34@f)#? , DUR2 UN-uri5#
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED I-II (ca. 2900-2700 BC)) — Nisaba 25, 64. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: British Museum, London, UK (P449051) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-4-6 (2026-05-28/v6-glossary-aware).
Related tablets
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.