Position in chronology
CUSAS 03, 0859
About this tablet
A short receipt from Garšana, a private estate town in southern Iraq run by the general Šu-Kabta and the princess Simat-Ištaran around 2030 BCE. A leatherworker named Anaḫ-ilī takes delivery of three sheep hides from a man called Iškur-illat, and rolls his personal seal — which names him as the son of Saba and identifies his trade — across the clay. The text appears twice, once on the tablet and once on its clay envelope, the ancient equivalent of keeping a sealed copy of the docket. The year formula dates it to Šu-Suen's campaign against the highland land of Zabšali.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Received: three sheep hides, handed over by Iškur-illat and taken by Anaḫ-ilī. Dated to the month of maš-da-gu in the year King Šu-Suen destroyed the land of Zabšali. The same entry is repeated on the sealed envelope, with a few signs damaged. The seal impression reads: Ana-ḫilī, son of Saba, leatherworker.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine3 sheep hides, from Iškur-illat Anaḫ-ilī received. Month: maš-da-gu ("gazelle-eating"), year: Šu-Suen the king destroyed the land of Zabšali. (second copy / envelope) [3 sheep hides,] from Iškur-illat, Anaḫ-ilī received. Month: maš-da-[gu], year: Šu-[Suen the king] destroyed the land of [Zabša]li. (seal inscription) Ana-ḫilī, son of Saba, leather-worker.
Our translation engine — Opus 5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
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Transliteration
3(disz) kusz udu ki iszkur-illat-ta a-na-ah-i3-li2 szu ba-an-ti iti masz-da3-gu7 mu szu-suen lugal-e ma-da za-ab-sza-li mu-hul [3(disz) kusz udu] ki iszkur-illat-[ta] a-na-ah-i3-li2# szu ba-an-ti# iti masz-da3-[gu7] mu# szu-[suen lugal-e] ma-da [za-ab-sza]-li [mu]-hul a-na-hi-li2 dumu sa2-ba aszgab
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — CUSAS 03, 0859. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format). [year-name] Dated to Šu-Suen y6 — Land of Zabšali destroyed based on canonical year-name formula in the transliteration.
Attribution
Image: CUNES 48-02-027 (Department of Near Eastern Studies, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA) — from Garšana (mod. uncertain) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P322429). source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-opus-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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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.
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.