Position in chronology
Kress 240
About this tablet
This is a small Ur III administrative receipt from the royal livestock and goods center of Puzriš-Dagan (modern Drehem), dated to the reign of Amar-Suen. It records a modest amount of wool — designated a 'royal nig-daga,' a term for goods handled on the crown's behalf — passing from an official named Šulgi-mišar to a recipient named Ilabunigadu. Thousands of such texts survive from this archive, forming one of the best-documented bureaucracies of the ancient world, tracking every sheep, measure of wool, and official transaction that flowed through the state's central redistribution hub.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This is a receipt: 7 1/2 shekels of wool (of the 'su'a' type or quality), classified as a royal consignment, was handed over by Šulgi-mišar and received by Ilabunigadu. The transaction took place at Puzriš-Dagan. It is dated to the month called 'piglets-devoured,' in the year following the year in which 'the throne of Enlil was fashioned' — a standard Ur III dating formula pointing to the reign of King Amar-Suen.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine7 1/2 shekels of su’a(?)-wool, a royal nig-daga (consignment/delivery) from Šulgi-mišar, Ilabunigadu received; within Puzriš-Dagan. Month: 'šah-ku-gu7' (piglets-devoured), Year following the year: 'The throne of Enlil was fashioned.'
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
7(disz) 1/2(disz) gin2 siki? su-a nig2-da-ga lugal ki szul-gi-mi-szar-ta i3-la-bu-ni-ga-du szu ba-ti sza3 puzur4-isz-da-gan iti szah2-ku3-gu7 mu us2-sa gu-za en-lil2-la2 ba-dim2
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — Kress 240. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format). [year-name] Dated to Ur-Nammu y15 — Year after: The throne of Enlil was fashioned based on canonical year-name formula in the transliteration.
Attribution
Image: Kress 240 (private: anonymous, Germany) — from Puzriš-Dagan (mod. Drehem) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P480795). source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-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.