Position in chronology
BAOM 2, 26 24
About this tablet
This is a small Ur III barley-ration voucher from Girsu (modern Tello), part of the vast bureaucratic archive of the Ur III state around the reign of King Šulgi. It records barley rations issued to 33 workers and 5 junior laborers who had no barley allotment of their own and were attached to the household of the sukkal (a high vizier-level official). Such texts, produced by the thousands, tracked exactly how much grain moved through granaries, who authorized it, who physically carried it, and in which month — the everyday plumbing of a highly centralized redistributive economy.</br>
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This tablet is a receipt for grain rations. Thirty-three workers each got one barig of barley measured by the royal standard, and five junior workers each got four ban2 — seven gur, one barig, and two ban2 of barley in total. These are workers who don't have their own barley supply; they're attached to the vizier's household. The grain came from Bazi, and Ur-igalim, son of Magurre, signed for receiving it. This happened in the month of the Dumuzi festival, drawn from the granary at Uru'a, and was moved under the supervision of a man named Kudamu. The transaction is dated to the year after Simurrum and Lulubum were destroyed — a standard Ur III year-name formula.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine33 workers (gurusz): 1 barig barley, royal (measure), each. 5 junior workers (erin2-tur-tur): 4 ban2 each. Its barley: 7 gur, 1 barig, 2 ban2. Workers who have no barley (of their own) — they belong to the household of the sukkal (vizier). From Bazi, Ur-igalim, son of Magurre, received (it). Month: festival of Dumuzi. From the granary of Uru'a, via Kudamu. Year following: 'Simurrum and Lulubum were destroyed.'
Our translation engine — Sonnet 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
3(u) 3(disz) gurusz 1(barig) sze lugal-ta 5(disz) erin2-tur-tur 4(ban2)-ta sze-bi 7(asz) 1(barig) 2(ban2) gur erin2 sze nu-tuku-me e2-sukkal-me ki ba-zi-ta ur-ig-alim dumu ma2-gur8-re-ke4 szu ba-ti iti ezem-dumu-zi guru7 uru11-ta giri3 ku5-da-mu mu us2-sa si-mu-ur4-ru-um lu-lu-bu ba-hul
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — BAOM 2, 26 24. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: BM 012655 (British Museum, London, UK) — from Girsu (mod. Tello) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P104887). source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
Related tablets
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.