Position in chronology
HLC 005 (pl. 004)
About this tablet
This is a small Ur III administrative memorandum from Girsu (modern Tello), recording one gur of barley disbursed as wages for hired laborers working at various local shrines. The grain came from a boat belonging to a man named Ur-Suen and was supposed to be repaid, but a note states it was never actually delivered — a rare glimpse of a debt going unpaid in the tightly bureaucratic world of the Ur III state. The document is sealed and signed by the scribe Lu-Baba, son of Ur-dam, and dated by a year-name referring to the destruction of the city of Urbilum (Erbil), anchoring it to the reign of King Šu-Suen.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This record notes one royal gur of barley paid out as wages for temporary workers at several shrines, drawn from Ur-Suen's boat shipment. The barley was supposed to be repaid — the transaction was sealed under Lu-Baba's authority and repayment was again confirmed as due — but a note says it was never delivered. The tablet is dated to the year after 'Urbilum was destroyed,' and was written and sealed by the scribe Lu-Baba, son of Ur-dam.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1 gur (royal measure) of barley — wages of hired workers, (for) the various shrines, from the boat of Ur-Suen — is to be repaid; sealed by Lu-Baba — is to be repaid; it was not delivered. Year after: "Urbilum was destroyed" (year name). Lu-Baba, scribe, son of Ur-dam.
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(asz) sze gur lugal a2 hun-ga2 esz3 didli ma2 ur-suen-ta su-su-dam kiszib3 lu2-ba-ba6 su-su-dam nu-ub-tum3-mu mu us2-sa ur-bi2-lum [ba]-hul lu2-ba-ba6 dub-sar dumu ur-dam
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — HLC 005 (pl. 004). No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: OIM A31679 (Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA) — from Girsu (mod. Tello) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P109884). 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.
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.