Position in chronology
AAICAB 1/1, pl. 059, 1924-0553
About this tablet
This is a small clay receipt from the Ur III royal wool-accounting archive at Puzriš-Dagan (modern Drehem), the great livestock and textile redistribution center near Nippur, dated to the reign of Amar-Suen (his second regnal year, c. 2044 BCE by the middle chronology). It records a shipment of 24 talents of a wool grade called "gir-gul," weighed against a standard stone weight, moving from the storehouse called the "sheep-house of Tummal" into the hands of an official named Nur-Suen, with a man named Šulgi-mišar acting as the responsible intermediary (giri3). Tablets like this were the everyday bookkeeping of a vast state-run wool industry that clothed the kingdom's workforce and temples.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Twenty-four talents of gir-gul-grade wool were weighed out using a stone standard of one talent and one-and-two-thirds minas per unit. Šulgi-mišar handled the transfer. The wool came from the sheepfold storehouse of Tummal, sent from an official whose name ends in '-Inanna' (the first part is broken off), and was formally delivered. Nur-Suen signed for and received the shipment. The transaction is dated to the month called Shu-eshsha, in the year known as 'the year the throne of Enlil was fashioned' — the second year of King Amar-Suen's reign.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine24 talents of gir-gul wool, by the weight-stone of 1 talent 1 2/3 mina each, via Šulgi-mišar; wool of the sheep-house of Tummal, from [PN]-Inanna — delivery. Nur-Suen received it. Month: "šu-eš-ša"; 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.
Spotted an error? Suggest a correction — confirmed corrections feed the engine's knowledge base.
Engine notes
read from photo7 uncertain terms ↓
- gir₂-gul — A wool quality or type designation; not fully understood. May refer to a specific preparation, cut, or provenance. Appears in other Drehem wool texts but its precise meaning remains debated.
- na4 1(asz) gu2 1(disz) 2/3(disz) ma-na-ta — The stone-weight rate clause: '(at/by the stone of) 1 talent (and) 1⅔ minas each.' This likely specifies the standard weight used to measure each bundle or lot, a common Ur III accounting device. The exact logistical meaning of the rate is debated in the literature.
- ki# x-inanna-ta — The source official's name is partially broken/unclear. The scholar marks 'ki#' as uncertain and 'x' as unread. The person's name ends in '-Inanna' (a theophoric element), but the initial component cannot be read from the tablet surface.
- mu-kux(DU) — Standard Ur III delivery verb, literally 'was brought in' (DU used for the logogram kux = entry/delivery). Rendered 'delivered' or 'brought in' here.
- e2-udu tum-ma-al — é-udu = 'sheep-house/pen'; Tummal was a sacred precinct near Nippur with major religious significance and its own administered flocks. The wool here originates from that institution's herds.
- iti szu-esz5-sza — The month name Šu-eššá: the 8th month of the Ur III administrative calendar (used at Nippur/Drehem). The exact Gregorian equivalent depends on the year.
- mu gu-za en-lil2-la2 ba-dim2 — Year formula: 'Year: the throne of Enlil was fashioned.' Several Ur III year names reference construction of divine thrones; the precise regnal year this corresponds to requires identification against the full Ur III year-name list.
Reasoning ↓
The photograph shows a small, rounded pillow-shaped Ur III tablet — the characteristic Drehem format — with both obverse (upper centre in the composite image) and reverse (lower panel) displayed, plus the two edges at left and right. The clay surface is moderately eroded and the wedge impressions are shallow; the upper lines of the obverse are the clearest, while the lower lines and reverse are more worn. I can make out clusters of wedges consistent with numeric signs in the first line and what appear to be personal-name signs in the middle lines, but the resolution is insufficient to confirm individual signs with certainty. The transliteration is consistent with well-known Drehem wool-delivery formulae. The year formula 'mu gu-za en-lil₂-la₂ ba-dim₂' ('Year: the throne of Enlil was fashioned') is attested in Šulgi year 46 / Šū-Suen or Amar-Suen reign contexts; exact year assignment would require parallel attestations. 'gir₂-gul' as a wool quality or provenance term and the weight standard notation 'na₄ 1(asz) gu₂ 1(disz) 2/3(disz) ma-na-ta' (per-stone rate of 1 talent 1⅔ minas) are standard Drehem accounting idioms. The personal name before -Inanna in the 'ki…-ta' line is marked with # and an x in the transliteration, indicating the scholar could not read it clearly; the photo cannot resolve it either.
Generated by claude-sonnet-4-6 · prompt 2026-05-12/v4-interpretation · May 12, 2026 · 3203 in / 1310 out tokens
Transliteration
2(u) 4(asz) gu2 siki gir2-gul na4 1(asz) gu2 1(disz) 2/3(disz) ma-na-ta giri3 szul-gi-mi-szar siki e2-udu tum-ma-al ki# x-inanna-ta mu-kux(DU) nu-ur2-suen szu ba-ti iti szu-esz5-sza mu gu-za en-lil2-la2 ba-dim2
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — AAICAB 1/1, pl. 059, 1924-0553. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format). [year-name] Dated to Ur-Nammu y14 — The throne of Enlil was fashioned based on canonical year-name formula in the transliteration.
Attribution
Image: Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, UK (P142812) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. 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.