Position in chronology
TLB 05, 10
About this tablet
This is a small Old Babylonian administrative tablet from Isin, part of a hide- and leather-goods account: it records raw materials — sheep, ox, and goat hides, tanning agents, cord, bitumen — along with bread and cakes issued for an offering to the granary. It names the officials responsible for the transaction (a cook and an overseer) and is explicitly dated by year-name to the reign of King Išbi-Erra, founder of the Isin dynasty, in a year he defeated the Šimaški and Elam. The closing word 'gaba-ri' marks this tablet as a duplicate copy of another record — a routine but revealing glimpse into how a young Mesopotamian state tracked its craft materials and temple provisions.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This tablet is a leather-workshop and provisions account. It lists one leather bag and a royal leather strap-set; sheepskin (nine black hides, with five shekels of cord); eight pairs of shoes with hoof-shaped fittings made for the king, issued in sets of one or two; an ox hide along with five shekels' worth of tanning material; and a billy-goat hide, two-thirds of a black portion. Also recorded are three baskets of sweet bread and five sila of bitumen, all set aside as an offering for the granary. The transaction went through Ur-alla and the cook Iddin-Adad, under the supervision of the official Anah-ili, on an unspecified day of the month NE-NE-gar, in the year King Išbi-Erra defeated Šimaški and Elam. The tablet is marked as a duplicate copy of the original record.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1 naḫbatum (leather bag/pouch), royal ka-kara4 (leather strap/gear) — sheep hide, ram(?)-hide, its black (portion): 9; its cord/sinew: 5 shekels. 8 shoes (with) hoof-fittings(?), royal ka-kara4, 1 (or) 2 each. Ox hide, its tanning-agent (u2-ḫab2): 5 shekels. Billy-goat hide, its black (portion): 2/3. 3 baskets of gug2-cake (bread); its bitumen: 5 sila. For the offering of the granary. Via Ur-alla and Iddin-Adad, the cook; overseer: Anaḫ-ili. Day [n]. Month: NE-NE-gar. Year: Išbi-Erra, the king, defeated Šimaški and Elam. Copy (gaba-ri).
Our translation engine — Sonnet 5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
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Engine notes
read from photo8 uncertain terms ↓
- kakara4 — An oil or aromatic substance used in royal contexts; exact nature uncertain — possibly a plant-derived oil or resin. The logogram reading is debated.
- suhub2 umbin — Literally 'shoes (with) claws/nails/talons' — a type of footwear, possibly with metal studs or decorative claw-shaped attachments. Exact form unclear.
- u2-hab2-bi — A type of leather-working or tanning process; exact technical meaning disputed. Some read as a plant used in curing hides.
- ma-sa2-ab — A basket type, often used for bread or baked goods; the exact shape and capacity are uncertain.
- ninda gug2 — Bread and/or cake — 'gug2' may refer specifically to a type of pressed or formed cake rather than a simple loaf.
- NE-NE-gar — Month name typically read as 'Abu' (the month of fires/torches), associated with a ghost festival; the reading of the month sign cluster is conventional but the exact Sumerian pronunciation is debated.
- nahbatum — A vessel type; Akkadian loanword or vessel designation, exact shape uncertain.
- u4 n-kam — The day number is not preserved in the transliteration (written as 'n'), indicating a lacuna on the tablet.
Reasoning ↓
The photograph shows a small, roughly rectangular clay tablet displayed from multiple angles — obverse, reverse, left edge, top, and bottom. The surface is pale buff-brown clay with moderate erosion, especially on the upper edge and lower face. Individual wedge groups are visible on the obverse under good studio lighting; the incised lines are relatively clear in the middle registers but become crowded and partially illegible toward the top and bottom edges. The reverse (lower image pair) shows further cuneiform lines but is more worn. I can visually confirm dense multi-sign lines consistent with an administrative list format and can make out what appear to be numerical signs (vertical wedges) at line beginnings, consistent with the transliteration's quantities. I cannot independently verify individual sign readings at this resolution, particularly the personal names and the year formula, but the overall layout, tablet shape, and density of text are fully consistent with a standard Old Babylonian administrative tablet. The year formula 'Ishbi-Erra smote Shimashki and Elam' is a well-known date formula from the reign of Ishbi-Erra of Isin (c. 2017–1985 BCE), which supports the Isin provenance. The term 'kakara' remains debated; 'gaba-ri' (duplicate/copy) at the end is a standard Sumerian archival notation.
Generated by claude-sonnet-4-6 · prompt 2026-05-12/v4-interpretation · May 12, 2026 · 3693 in / 1205 out tokens
Transliteration
1(disz) na-ah-ba-tum ka-kara4 lugal kusz udu a-lum ge6-bi 9(disz) sa-bi 5(disz) gin2 8(disz) suhub2 umbin ka-kara4 lugal 1(disz) 2(disz)-a-ba kusz gu4 u2-hab2-bi 5(disz) gin2 kusz masz2-gal ge6-bi 2/3(disz) 3(disz) ma-sa2-ab ninda gug2 esir2-bi 5(disz) sila3 siskur2 guru7-sze3 giri3 ur-al-la u3 i-din-iszkur muhaldim ugula a-na-ah-i3-li2 u4 n-kam iti NE-NE-gar mu isz-bi-[er3]-ra lugal-e szimaszgi2 u3 elam bi2-ra gaba-ri
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Early Old Babylonian (ca. 2000-1900 BC)) — TLB 05, 10. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format). [year-name] Dated to Išbi-Erra y1 — Išbi-Erra became king based on canonical year-name formula in the transliteration.
Attribution
Image: de Liagre Böhl Collection, Netherlands Institute for the Near East, Leiden, Holland (P283616) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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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.