Chapter 01 · 4000 – 3100 BCE
Uruk Period
The birth of the city, the birth of writing.
~3000 BCE · Sb 22389 — Louvre Museum, Paris, France
MDP 17, 222
In plain English
This is a short ledger: ten entries, each naming something and giving its quantity. Reading down the list: one, one, four, one, one, one, nine, one, and eleven, with a final entry of two whose heading is broken away. The largest single figure is the eleven on the ninth line. The commodity signs themselves cannot be translated — the script has never been deciphered — and several of them are damaged besides, so what survives is a set of amounts detached from the goods they once measured.
AI-generated reading paraphrase; compare with the translation below.
“Obverse 1. [ … ] M009(?) — 1 (unit) 2. M009(?) — 1 (unit) 3. M309~a(?) — 4 (units) 4. |M348+M288| (damaged) — 1 (unit) 5. M110~c — 1 (unit) 6. M309 — 1 (unit) 7. M009(?) — 9 (units) 8. M009(?) — 1 (unit) 9. M309~a(?) — 1 (ten) 1 (unit) [= 11] 10. [ … ] — 2 (units) (No further text is legible; the remaining surface is eroded or broken away.)”
Source: engine:claude-opus-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved) · claude-opus-5 · low confidence
Read the full tablet entry~3000 BCE · Sb 22392 — Louvre Museum, Paris, France
MDP 17, 225
In plain English
This is a short tally sheet. Line by line it lists items — each written with signs we cannot yet read — and sets a quantity beside each one: one unit, one unit, one unit again, and in one case two. Several entries are broken away, so their totals are lost, and the last surviving line names three or four sign-groups together with a number that no longer survives. The rest of the tablet is blank or worn smooth, and the back preserves only faint traces of signs with nothing readable.
AI-generated reading paraphrase; compare with the translation below.
“Obverse [...] — 1 (unit) [...] M297 — 1 (unit) M218, M223, M218(?) — [...] [...] — 2 (units) |M218~d + M288|, M218 — 1 (unit) M254~a, M372, [...], M206~d — [...] (The remainder of the surface is blank or effaced; the reverse preserves only traces of signs along the left portion, with no legible entries.)”
Source: engine:claude-opus-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved) · claude-opus-5 · low confidence
Read the full tablet entry~3000 BCE · Sb 22395 — Louvre Museum, Paris, France
MDP 17, 228
In plain English
A short ledger. Under a heading sign that is chipped and unreadable, the scribe enters three items: the first commodity, qualified by two further signs and a container-mark carrying its own figure, is booked at two measures; the second, a related commodity with the same qualifier, at one measure; the third at one measure of a smaller unit. A fourth line collects the running amounts — one of each of the four units used — and the last line closes the account with a single large unit as the grand total. The back of the tablet is blank apart from a few worn traces.
AI-generated reading paraphrase; compare with the translation below.
“Obverse 1. M305[#?] — (heading sign, no numeral) 2. M387, M124, M081, |M036+1(N39C)| : 1(N24) 1(N30C@b) 3. M387~eg, M036 : 1(N39B) 4. M062 : 1(N30D) 5. M288 : 1(N39B) 1(N24) 1(N30D) 1(N30C@b) 6. (total:) 1(N34) Reverse: uninscribed/effaced apart from faint traces at the upper edge; no readable signs. (Rendered in commodity terms: a heading sign M305, damaged; then three entries — the first of a commodity written M387 with the classifiers M124 and M081 plus a M036-sign bearing an inset numeral 1(N39C), reckoned at 1(N24) and 1(N30C@b); the second of M387~eg with M036, reckoned at 1(N39B); the third of M062, reckoned at 1(N30D). The fourth line, headed by M288, gathers the amounts 1(N39B), 1(N24), 1(N30D) and 1(N30C@b), and the final line gives the grand total, 1(N34).)”
Source: engine:claude-opus-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved) · claude-opus-5 · low confidence
Read the full tablet entry~3000 BCE · Sb 06394 — Louvre Museum, Paris, France
MDP 17, 229
In plain English
This is a short list of amounts. The first entry, whose opening is broken away, is credited with 50 units; the next, also damaged, with 20. Then come 3 units against one commodity sign, 70 against another, and a final 3. A single sign appears in almost every line, so the whole list probably tracks one class of goods broken down by owner, supplier, or subtype. The numbers are perfectly clear; the words for what is being counted are written in a script no one can yet read.
AI-generated reading paraphrase; compare with the translation below.
“Obverse 1. [...] |M106~2+M288| M256~b M041~d M288 — 5(N14) [= 50] 2. [...] — 2(N14) [= 20] 3. M038~e M295~e M288 — 3(N01) [= 3] 4. M288 — 7(N14) [= 70] 5. M295~ee M288 — 3(N01) [= 3] (The signs themselves are proto-Elamite and remain undeciphered; only the numerals can be read with confidence. N14 is the large round impression of the decimal-type system, N01 the small round/wedge unit. Line 1 and line 2 each begin in a break.)”
Source: engine:claude-opus-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved) · claude-opus-5 · low confidence
Read the full tablet entry~3000 BCE · Sb 22396 — Louvre Museum, Paris, France
MDP 17, 230
In plain English
This is the surviving part of a short ledger. The opening line, with two damaged signs, is lost. Then come the entries: an unnamed item, 2; a group of four signs, 1; another broken entry, 1; a further pair of signs, 1; and a final lost item, 6. The commodity words themselves belong to a script no one can yet read, so the quantities are all we can recover with confidence. The rest of the tablet is broken away or blank.
AI-generated reading paraphrase; compare with the translation below.
“(obverse) [...] M332~c(?) M249~n1(?) [...] , [...] [...] , 2 (units, N01) M115~a M281~f M377~e M223 , 1 (unit, N01) [...] M218 , 1 (unit, N01) M032 M371 , 1 (unit, N01) [...] , 6 (units, N01) (No further inscribed text is preserved; the remainder of the surface, including the reverse, is uninscribed or effaced.)”
Source: engine:claude-opus-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved) · claude-opus-5 · low confidence
Read the full tablet entry~3000 BCE · Sb 22401 — Louvre Museum, Paris, France
MDP 17, 235
In plain English
The tablet is a short ledger. The opening line gives a heading built on the signs M305+M288 with M388, but the rest of that line is broken away. Then come the entries: one group of goods marked M297, M066 and M348 is credited with three units; a line beginning with M066 is lost; another entry records two units; a fuller heading — M048~k, M080~c, M297, M066, M348 — has lost its figure; and a final surviving line gives three units. The edges are blank and the reverse was never inscribed, apart from the modern museum numbers painted on it.
AI-generated reading paraphrase; compare with the translation below.
“obverse 1. [...] |M305+M288| M388 [...] — [broken] 2. [...] M297 M066 M348 — 3 (N₀₁) 3. M066 [...] — [broken] 4. [...] — 2 (N₀₁) 5. M048~k M080~c M297 M066 M348 — [broken] 6. [...] — 3 (N₀₁) (Left, right, top and bottom edges: no inscribed signs preserved; the edges carry only impressions and surface damage.) reverse (Uninscribed; the surface bears only the modern museum markings "235" and "Sb 22401".)”
Source: engine:claude-opus-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved) · claude-opus-5 · low confidence
Read the full tablet entry~3000 BCE · Sb 22403 — Louvre Museum, Paris, France
MDP 17, 237
In plain English
This is a short tally sheet. Each line pairs a commodity or account label with a number: one unit against the first entry, two against the second, six against a lost third entry, six again, then a longer damaged line whose figure is broken away, one unit, and finally five. The labels are written in signs no one can yet read, and several entries are chipped or eroded, so only the quantities survive intact.
AI-generated reading paraphrase; compare with the translation below.
“(obverse) […] M228 — 1 (unit) |M036 + 1(N30D)| — 2 (units) […] — 6 (units) |M036 + 1(N30D)| — 6 (units) […] M101 M101 […] M097~h(?) M175 […] — [number lost] […] — 1 (unit) […] M371(?) |M036 + 1(N30D)| — 5 (units) (No further inscribed text is preserved; the remaining surfaces and edges are broken or blank.)”
Source: engine:claude-opus-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved) · claude-opus-5 · low confidence
Read the full tablet entry~3000 BCE · Sb 06373 — Louvre Museum, Paris, France
MDP 17, 239
In plain English
This is a short accounts list, badly broken. The first surviving entry, whose heading is lost, is credited with 40 units; the next, marked with the recurring M288 sign, with 20. A third entry combining several commodity signs is set at 12; a fourth, again fragmentary, at 2 units plus 2 measures of a different (probably capacity) system. A fifth entry totals 21, and a sixth records 1 unit and one further measure before the text breaks off. The last line is lost entirely, and the reverse preserves nothing readable.
AI-generated reading paraphrase; compare with the translation below.
“Obverse 1. [...] — 4(N14) 2. [...] M288 — 2(N14) 3. M356 ... M036, M312 ... — 1(N14) 2(N1) 4. [...] ... M288 — 2(N1) 2(N30C) 5. M217, M124, M288 — 2(N14) 1(N1) 6. M288 — 1(N1) 1(N29B) [...] 7. [...] — [...] (The remainder of the obverse is broken away; the reverse, so far as it is preserved, carries no legible signs.) (Modern museum inventory painted on the edge: Sb 6373)”
Source: engine:claude-opus-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved) · claude-opus-5 · low confidence
Read the full tablet entry