Position in chronology
CDLI Literary 000584, ex. 003
About this tablet
This is a Sumerian school letter from the Old Babylonian period (ca. 1800 BCE), one of a set of model letters that apprentice scribes copied as part of their education. In it a supervisor named Inim-Inanna writes to Lugal-ibila with two orders: do not neglect the Sumerian language — by then a dead classical tongue kept alive only in the schools — and do not let a young student slip out of the scribal academy, even if he pleads that he wants to go home to his father. It is a vivid glimpse of ancient classroom discipline and of Sumerian's status as a prestige language that had to be deliberately maintained.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
A memo to Lugal-ibila from Inim-Inanna: Don't let your Sumerian slide! This is the second time I've had to send someone to you about using the language properly. And that boy who sits in front of you — do not let him leave the school. What's more, don't let anyone fool you with excuses. If he tells you, 'I just want to go see my father,' don't buy it: until you and I have compared notes on the agreed signal, I will keep sending a man to check on you. The last lines are broken away.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engineSay to Lugal-ibila: this is what Inim-Inanna says: Do not neglect the Sumerian language! (lit. "do not let your neck fall away from Sumerian") For the second time I am sending someone to you concerning the correct (use of the) language. The youngster who sits before you — do not let him go out of the tablet-house (school)! And furthermore, let no one deceive you with lies. Should he say to you, "Let me go to his (i.e. my) father," until I and you have exchanged word about the agreed sign, [I will keep] sending a man to you. [...] (remainder broken)
Our translation engine — Fable 5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Spotted an error? Suggest a correction — confirmed corrections feed the engine's knowledge base.
Transliteration
lugal-ibila u3-na-[du11] inim-inanna-ke4 na-ab-be2-[a] eme-gir15-sze3 gu2-zu na-ab-szub-be2-en# 2(min)-kam-ma-sze3 eme si sa2-bi-sze3 lu2 mu-e-szi-[in-gi4-gi4] lu2-tur igi-zu-sze3 al-durun-u3-na e2-dub-ba-a-ta na-ab-ta-e3-e na-an-ga-ma lu2 na-me lul i-ri-ib-si3-ke ugu ad-da-na-sze3 ga-am3-gen DU a-ra-[ab-be2] en-na geszkim ge26-e u3 za-e KA i3-bal#-[en-da-na] [lu2] mu-e-szi-gi4-gi4#-x [x x x]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Babylonian (ca. 1900-1600 BC)) — CDLI Literary 000584, ex. 003. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: CBS 15079 (University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P269643). source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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