Position in chronology
TLB 05, 10
About this tablet
An administrative receipt or delivery record from the Old Babylonian city of Isin, dating to the reign of Ishbi-Erra (founder of the Isin dynasty, roughly 2017–1985 BCE). It lists animal hides, sandals, baskets of bread and cake, and bitumen allocated toward a sacrificial storehouse or offering depot. Two named officials — a cook named Iddin-Adad and a supervisor named Anah-ili — are identified as responsible parties. The year is dated by the king's military victory over the highland kingdom of Shimashki and Elam, a politically significant event that helped legitimize Ishbi-Erra's claim to rule after the collapse of the Third Dynasty of Ur.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Received and disbursed for the offering storehouse: one container of royal kakkara oil; nine black sheepskins valued at 5 shekels; eight pairs of toe-capped sandals, royal grade, priced two to a unit; one ox-hide treated with u'habbu at 5 shekels; two-thirds of a shekel's worth of black goat-skin; and three baskets of bread and cake, with 5 liters of bitumen (as sealant or fuel). Handled by Ur-alla and the cook Iddin-Adad, under the oversight of Anah-ili. Dated to a day in the month of Abu, in the year that King Ishbi-Erra defeated Shimashki and Elam. Marked 'copy.'
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1 nahbatum-container of royal kakkara(-oil?) Black sheep-skin (of a ram): 9 [units] its price: 5 shekels 8 pairs of sandals with toe-caps — royal kakkara(-quality) — 1 (for) each 2 Ox-hide, u'habbu-processed: 5 shekels Black billy-goat skin: 2/3 [shekel] 3 masabbu-baskets of bread (and) cake their bitumen/pitch: 5 sila (All this) for the offering-storehouse Via: Ur-alla and Iddin-Adad, the cook Overseer: Anah-ili Day n Month: Abu (the 'fires of Ab') Year: Ishbi-Erra, the king, defeated Shimashki and Elam [Tablet-]copy
Our translation engine — Sonnet 4.6. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
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-4-6 (2026-05-18/v5-modern-rendering).
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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.