Anonymous 497531

~2037 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P497531

About this tablet

A small clay receipt from Umma in southern Iraq, written about 2035 BCE under King Šu-Sîn of the Third Dynasty of Ur. It records sixty bundles of cut reed handed over from a man named Šeš-kalla for a courier named En-dudu, charged against Umma's obligation to the bala — the rotating tax-and-supply system by which each province supported the crown. The scribe Ikalla, son of Lu-saga, sealed it, and his seal legend is copied out at the end. Reed was the plastic of ancient Mesopotamia: fuel, matting, roofing, boat caulking, and the raw material of everyday construction.

Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.

Written in modern English

Sixty bundles of reeds, issued to En-dudu, the courier attached to the miscellaneous personnel. Released from Šeš-kalla's stores and receipted under the seal of Ikalla, charged to the province's bala account. Dated the tenth day of the month Dal, in the year King Šu-Sîn built the temple of Šara. The seal reads: Ikalla, scribe, son of Lu-saga.

A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.

Translation — our engine

Our engine

Medium confidence

60 bundles of reeds — (for) En-dudu, the courier of the "various men"; from Šeš-kalla; sealed tablet of Ikalla; within (the account of) the bala; day 10, month: Dal, year: "Šu-Sîn, the king, built the temple of Šara." (Seal:) Ikalla, scribe, son of Lu-saga.

Indicative reading — translated without a photograph. Generated from the transliteration alone, without examining the original. Read it as an accessible first taste, not as a verified catalogue entry.

Our translation engine — Opus 5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.

Spotted an error? Suggest a correction — confirmed corrections feed the engine's knowledge base.

Transliteration

1(gesz2) sa gi
en-du8-du
kas4 lu2-didli
ki szesz-kal-la-ta
kiszib3 i3-kal-la
sza3 bala-a
u4 1(u)-kam
iti dal
mu szu-suen lugal-e e2 szara2 mu-du3
i3-kal-la
dub-sar
dumu lu2-sa6-ga

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — Anonymous 497531. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format). [year-name] Dated to Šu-Suen y1 — Šu-Suen became king based on canonical year-name formula in the transliteration.

Attribution

Image: Anonymous 497531 (private: anonymous, unlocated) — from Umma (mod. Tell Jokha) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P497531). source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-opus-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).

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