Chapter 04 · 2112 – 2004 BCE
Ur III · Neo-Sumerian
A bureaucratic golden age, the Code of Ur-Nammu.
~2050 BCE · Reconstructed composite — see ORACC entry for manuscript witnesses
Ibbi-Suen 2095add / CDLI Seals 005973 (CDLI Seals 005973 (composite))
“(i 1) Ibbi-Suen, the powerful king, king of Urim, king of the four quarters, presented this (seal) to Ur-niĝar, the archivist, his servant.”
Source: Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Royal Inscriptions (ETCSRI), University of Vienna, edited by Gábor Zólyomi et al. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/etcsri/Q005022/
Read the full tablet entry~2050 BCE · Reconstructed composite — see ORACC entry for manuscript witnesses
Ibbi-Suen 2096add / CDLI Seals 005926 (CDLI Seals 005926 (composite))
“(i 1) Ibbi-Suen, the protective god of his land, king of Urim, king of the four quarters, presented this (seal) to Ur-niĝar, the archivist, child of Aršiah, his servant.”
Source: Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Royal Inscriptions (ETCSRI), University of Vienna, edited by Gábor Zólyomi et al. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/etcsri/Q005023/
Read the full tablet entry~2050 BCE · Reconstructed composite — see ORACC entry for manuscript witnesses
Ibbi-Suen 2097add / CDLI Seals 005988 (CDLI Seals 005988 (composite))
“(i 1) Ibbi-Suen, the powerful king, king of Urim, presented this (seal) to Ur-saga, the envoy, his servant.”
Source: Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Royal Inscriptions (ETCSRI), University of Vienna, edited by Gábor Zólyomi et al. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/etcsri/Q005024/
Read the full tablet entry~2050 BCE · Reconstructed composite — see ORACC entry for manuscript witnesses
Ibbi-Suen 2099add / CDLI Seals 005959 (CDLI Seals 005959 (composite))
“(i 1) Ibbi-Suen, the powerful king, king of Urim, king of the four quarters: Utul-Ea, ..., is your servant.”
Source: Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Royal Inscriptions (ETCSRI), University of Vienna, edited by Gábor Zólyomi et al. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/etcsri/Q005025/
Read the full tablet entry~2050 BCE · Reconstructed composite — see ORACC entry for manuscript witnesses
Ibbi-Suen 2100add
“(i 1) Ibbi-Suen, the powerful king, king of Urim, king of the four quarters: ..., the scribe, child of Kug-Ningal, is your servant.”
Source: Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Royal Inscriptions (ETCSRI), University of Vienna, edited by Gábor Zólyomi et al. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/etcsri/Q005026/
Read the full tablet entry~2050 BCE · Reconstructed composite — see ORACC entry for manuscript witnesses
Ibbi-Suen 2101add / CDLI Seals 005954 (CDLI Seals 005954 (composite))
“(i 1) Ibbi-Suen, the powerful king, king of Urim, king of the four quarters: Lugal-ituda, the scribe, child of Ur-Dumuzida, is your servant.”
Source: Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Royal Inscriptions (ETCSRI), University of Vienna, edited by Gábor Zólyomi et al. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/etcsri/Q005027/
Read the full tablet entry~2050 BCE · Reconstructed composite — see ORACC entry for manuscript witnesses
Ibbi-Suen 2102add / CDLI Seals 005931 (CDLI Seals 005931 (composite))
“(i 1) Ibbi-Suen, the powerful king, king of Urim, king of the four quarters: Abi-luma, the comptroller, is your servant.”
Source: Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Royal Inscriptions (ETCSRI), University of Vienna, edited by Gábor Zólyomi et al. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/etcsri/Q005028/
Read the full tablet entry~2050 BCE · TUL LH 10 — Tsurumi University Library, Yokohama, Japan
JAC 24, 060 06
In plain English
This tablet is a workshop receipt. Thirty woven cloths (weighing one talent and forty-five mana in total) were made from mountain wool. Eleven more cloths, weighing thirty-six and a half mana and five shekels, were made from a wool graded 'gi.' Then come twenty-three coarser mug-cloths of different qualities — one top-grade, twenty-one mid-grade, one small — together weighing one talent, fourteen and a half mana, and five shekels. All of this is recorded as payment (wages) for weavers. The goods came from an official called Šeš-saga, and a man named Ur-ašar signed for and received them. The transaction is dated to the month of the Šulgi festival, in the year that the city of Ḫuḫnuri was destroyed.
AI-generated reading paraphrase; compare with the translation below.
“30 usz-bar textiles, its weight: 1 talent 45 mana — mountain wool (siki-kur-ra). 11 usz-bar textiles, its weight: 36 1/2 mana 5 shekels — gi-wool (siki-gi). 1 mug-textile, kal-quality; 21 mug-textiles, muru13-quality; 1 mug-textile, small (tur); its weight: 1 talent 14 1/2 mana 5 shekels. Wages of the weaver(s) (a2 usz-bar). From Šeš-saga — Ur-ašar received (it). Month: 'Festival of Šulgi' (iti ezem-šulgi). Year: 'Ḫuḫnuri was destroyed' (mu Ḫuḫnuri ba-ḫul).”
Source: engine:claude-sonnet-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved) · claude-sonnet-5 · medium confidence
Read the full tablet entry