CUSAS 03, 1149

~2037 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P322557

About this tablet

A one-line receipt from the Ur III estate at Garšana in southern Iraq, dated to the reign of King Šu-Suen (around 2035 BCE). An official named Iškur-illat took charge of a single sheep handed over by Ur-mes, with a man named Su-kali acting as the courier. The Garšana archive, now at Cornell, preserves thousands of such small transfer notes, and this one carries the famous year-name commemorating the king's ceremonial barge built for the gods Enlil and Ninlil.

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

Written in modern English

One sheep, delivered by Ur-mes, was taken into custody by Iškur-illat; Su-kali handled the transfer. Place: Garšana. Date: the month of the gazelle-feast, in the year King Šu-Suen of Ur built the great processional barge for Enlil and Ninlil.

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

Translation — our engine

Our engine

High confidence

1 sheep, from Ur-mes Iškur-illat received (took in charge). Via (conveyor): Su-kali. In Garšana. Month: "Gazelle-eating" (mašda-gu). Year: "Šu-Suen, king of Ur, fashioned the magnificent barge for Enlil and Ninlil."

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 — Fable 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(disz) udu
ki ur-mes-[ta]
iszkur-illat
i3-dab5
giri3 su2-ka3-li2
sza3 gar-sza-an-na
iti masz-da3-gu7
mu szu-suen lugal uri5-ma-ke4 ma2-gur8-mah en-lil2 <<nin-lil2>> nin-lil2-ra mu-ne-dim2

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — CUSAS 03, 1149. 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: CUNES 48-04-044 (Department of Near Eastern Studies, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA) — from Garšana (mod. uncertain) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P322557). source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).

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