NRVN 1, 115

~2072 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P122331

About this tablet

This is a small silver loan document from Ur III Nippur, part of the everyday legal paperwork of ancient Mesopotamian credit. A man named Šeš-kalla borrowed 1 1/2 shekels of silver from Lugal-ezem and swore an oath by the king's name to repay it by a set month, with a stiff penalty clause — triple the original sum, 3 shekels — if he defaulted. It is dated by month and by a year-name referring to the destruction of Simurrum, a mountain polity often campaigned against by the kings of the Ur III dynasty (most likely Šulgi), which helps anchor the tablet historically even though it records only a modest private transaction.

Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.

Written in modern English

Šeš-kalla borrowed 1 1/2 shekels of silver from Lugal-ezem. He swore an oath in the king's name that he would repay it by the month of Sig-ga (the brick-making month). The contract specifies that if he fails to pay on time, he owes a penalty of 3 shekels of silver instead. The document is dated to day 21 of the month Še-sag-ku, in the year that Simurrum was destroyed.

A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.

Translation — our engine

Our engine

Medium confidence

1 1/2 shekels of silver, from Lugal-ezem, Šeš-kalla received. Month: Sig-ga ("brick-making"), he is to pay (it) back — he swore by the name of the king (that he would do so). If he does not pay, he declared that he would pay 3 shekels of silver as a penalty. Month: <Še>-sag-ku, day 21 having passed; year: Simurrum was destroyed.

Indicative reading — translated without a photograph. Generated from the transliteration alone, without examining the original. Read it as an accessible first taste, not as a verified catalogue entry.

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(disz) 1/2(disz) gin2 ku3-babbar
ki lugal-ezem-ta
szesz-kal-la
szu ba-ti
iti! sig4-ga
la2-e-de3
mu lugal-bi
in-pa3 i3-la2 nu-la2
3(disz) gin2 ku3-babbar la2-da bi2-du11
iti! <sze>-sag11-ku5 u4 2(u) 1(disz) ba-zal
mu si-mu-ru-um ba-hul

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — NRVN 1, 115. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format). [year-name] Dated to Šulgi y23 — Simurrum destroyed based on canonical year-name formula in the transliteration.

Attribution

Image: Ist Ni 00003 (cast: CBS 09730 ?) (Arkeoloji Müzeleri, Istanbul, Turkey) — from Nippur (mod. Nuffar) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P122331). source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).

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