Position in chronology
ArOr 87, 033-057 11
About this tablet
This is a small Ur III administrative tablet from Umma, part of the vast bureaucratic record-keeping of the Ur III state (c. 2100–2000 BCE). It records disbursements of flour in graduated amounts — barig, ban2, and sila3 measures — to a handful of named individuals: a musician acting as intermediary, an official named Lugal-kuzu, a fisherman named Akalla, a man named Ur-Dumuzida, and a scribe named Adda. The transaction passes through Šara-amu, holder of the title šandana (a senior temple/institutional administrator), showing how food allocations moved through a chain of named officials and workers in the temple or palace economy of Umma.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This tablet is a short ration voucher. It records that 4 barig of flour (labeled gu2-na) went out through the musician acting as courier. Separately, 2 ban2 and 8 sila3 of flour went to a man named Lugal-kuzu, issued from the stores of Šara-amu, who held the title of šandana, a senior administrator. Further down, 1 barig 5 ban2 6 sila3 went to Akalla the fisherman, 3 ban2 went to Ur-Dumuzida, and 1 barig 5 ban2 went to Adda the scribe. In short: a list of flour rations paid out to several named workers and officials, tracked carefully down to the liter, as was routine in Ur III institutional bookkeeping.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine4 barig flour, gu2-na — via Nar (the musician). 2 ban2 8 sila3 (for) Lugal-kuzu, from Šara-amu, the šandana (chief administrator). 1 barig 5 ban2 6 sila3 (for) Akalla, the fisherman [šu-ku6], 3 ban2 (for) Ur-Dumuzida, 1 barig 5 ban2 (for) [Ad]da, [the scribe].
Our translation engine — Sonnet 5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
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Transliteration
4(barig) zi3 gu2-na giri3-ni nar 2(ban2) 8(disz) sila3 lugal-ku3-zu ki szara2-a-mu szandana 1(barig) 5(ban2) 6(disz) sila3 a-kal-la szu-[ku6] 3(ban2) ur-dumu-zi-da 1(barig) 5(ban2) [ad]-da [dub-sar]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — ArOr 87, 033-057 11. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: PPL 01 (Phoenix Public Library, Phoenix, Arizona, USA) — from Umma (mod. Tell Jokha) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P498525). source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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Related sources
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.