Position in chronology
ROM 925.062.009
About this tablet
A sheep-account from the temple bureaucracy of Girsu in southern Iraq, written around 2043 BCE during the reign of King Amar-Suena of the Ur III dynasty. It records over five hundred sheep — ewes, rams, and a few lambs — earmarked as the regular cultic offerings of the god Dumuzi, transferred from one official to a professional animal-fattener who sealed the receipt. The year is dated by the installation of a high priestess of the moon-god Nanna, a typical Ur III dating formula. It is a snapshot of the enormous livestock economy that fed the temples of Sumer.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Receipt for 247 ewes, 286 male sheep, and 5 lambs — a total of 538 animals — designated as the regular offerings for the god Dumuzi. The animals were handed over by Gudea, son of Ug-IL, and taken into custody under the seal of Lu-igimaše, the professional fattener attached to Dumuzi's cult, who will presumably fatten them before sacrifice. Dated to the year the priestess En-mahgal-ana was installed in office for the moon-god Nanna. Lu-igimaše's personal seal, naming him as son of Ur-saga and giving his profession as fattener, was rolled on the tablet to certify the transaction.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine247 ewes, 286 rams, 5 lambs — regular offerings of (the god) Dumuzi; from Gudea, son of Ug-IL, (received) under the seal of Lu-igimaše, the animal-fattener of Dumuzi. Year: "En-mahgal(-ana) was installed as en-priestess of [the god] Nanna." (Seal:) Lu-igimaše, son of Ur-saga, the animal-fattener.
Our translation engine — Fable 5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
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Transliteration
4(gesz2) 7(disz) u8 4(gesz2) 4(u) 6(disz) udu-nita2 5(disz) sila4 sa2-du11 dumu-zi ki gu3-de2-a dumu ug3-IL2-ta kiszib3 lu2-igi-ma-sze3 kuruszda dumu-zi mu en-mah-gal []nanna ba-hun lu2-igi-ma-sze3 dumu ur-sa6-ga kuruszda
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — ROM 925.062.009. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: ROM 925.062.009 (Royal Ontario Museum of Archaeology, Toronto, Ontario, Canada) — from Girsu (mod. Tello) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P417348). source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-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.