Position in chronology
CM 26, 146
About this tablet
This is a routine Ur III accounting tablet from Girsu (Tello), recording a shortfall of barley that had been loaded onto a boat — the kind of transport-loss note temple and palace administrators kept constantly. The debt is charged against a man named Bazi and formally sealed by Ningirsu-isa, whose personal seal (naming him and his father, with his profession as boatman) is impressed at the end, making him personally accountable for repaying the missing grain. The year name, 'Kimaš was destroyed,' anchors the tablet to the reign of king Šu-Suen of the Third Dynasty of Ur, around 2029 BCE, giving a precise historical date to an otherwise humble bookkeeping entry.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This tablet records a shortfall: 14 gur, 2 ban2, and 2 sila3 of barley (measured by the royal standard) that went missing from a shipment loaded onto a boat. The loss is charged to the account of a man called Bazi. Ningirsu-isa has put his seal on the document, taking responsibility to repay the missing grain. The record is dated to the month called 'Mušudu,' in the year king Šu-Suen's forces destroyed the city of Kimaš. At the bottom, the seal itself identifies the sealholder: Ningirsu-isa, son of Adda(?), who worked as a boatman.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine14 gur, 2 ban2, 2 sila3 of barley, royal measure — deficit of barley loaded onto the boat — from Bazi; sealed by Ningirsu-isa; it is to be repaid. Month: 'Mušudu.' Year: Kimaš was destroyed. (Seal legend:) Ningirsu-isa, son of Adda(?), boatman.
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
1(u) 4(asz) 2(ban2) 2(disz) sila3 sze gur lugal la2-ia3 sze ma2-a si-ga ki ba-zi-ta kiszib3 nin-gir2-su-i3-sa6 su-su-dam iti mu-szu-du7 mu ki-masz ba-hul nin-gir2-su-i3-sa6 dumu ad-da? ma2-lah5
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — CM 26, 146. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: SM 1899.02.057 (Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA) — from Girsu (mod. Tello) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P330161). source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-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.
The earliest historical document in human history. Before this, we have lists, accounts, and dedications. Here, for the first time, a ruler tells us what happened — with names, places, and consequences.
The oldest surviving law code in human history. The principle that the state — not the wronged family — defines and enforces justice begins here.