Position in chronology
MS 2396
About this tablet
This is a small accounting tablet from the very beginning of writing, around 3100–3000 BCE. It was probably made in southern Iraq, possibly at Umma. It lists nine entries, each counted as "one" and followed by a group of signs. These are almost certainly the names or designations of nine people, perhaps workers or dependents of an institution. The back gives the total of nine with a short heading. The individual names can be written out sign by sign, but we can't read them as words, which makes this one of the earliest known lists of named people.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
The tablet lists nine people one by one, each counted as one. They are written with sign groups we can only give by sign name: KAŠ ŠE+ŠE; ZATU659; UNUG KI ZATU773; EN GI+GI; ANŠE UDU; KA KU6 (the second sign is the fish sign); SI KISAL; PAP; and PA. A final case on the front holds only the sign BA, and one case is left empty. On the back, the scribe totals the list at nine, labelling the total 'BA SU PAP'. A last case contains the sign GAN, probably the name of the office or person responsible, or a label for the account.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engineObverse 1 (individual): KAŠ~c ŠE~a+ŠE~a 1 (individual): ZATU659 1 (individual): UNUG~a KI ZATU773~a 1 (individual): EN~a GI+GI 1 (individual): ANŠE~e UDU~a 1 (individual): KA~a KU6~a 1 (individual): SI KISAL~b1 1 (individual): PAP~a 1 (individual): PA~a (case): BA (empty case) Reverse 9 (individuals in total): BA SU~a PAP~a (case): GAN~a
Our translation engine — Opus 5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
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Transliteration
1(N01) , KASZ~c |SZE~a&SZE~a| 1(N01) , ZATU659 1(N01) , UNUG~a KI ZATU773~a 1(N01) , EN~a |GI&GI| 1(N01) , ANSZE~e UDU~a 1(N01) , KA~a KU6~a 1(N01) , SI KISAL~b1 1(N01) , PAP~a 1(N01) , PA~a , BA , 9(N01) , BA SU~a PAP~a , GAN~a#
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Uruk III (ca. 3200-3000 BC)) — MS 2396. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Schøyen Collection, Oslo, Norway (P006037) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-opus-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.