Position in chronology
MSVO 3, 24
About this tablet
This is one of the earliest administrative tablets in human history, dating to the Uruk period (roughly 3300–3000 BCE) from ancient Uruk in southern Iraq. It records allocations or disbursements of commodities — including aromatics or spices, barley, reeds, and possibly oil — distributed to or under the supervision of named officials such as heralds (NIMGIR) and institutional heads (EN). The numerical notations use the complex proto-cuneiform sexagesimal and capacity systems, tallying substantial quantities across multiple entries. Tablets like this one are among the very first written documents ever made: not literature, but the bookkeeping that made large urban institutions possible.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This tablet records a series of commodity allocations managed by temple or palace officials. One supervisor (PAP~a) and several heralds (NIMGIR) each receive or oversee specific quantities of goods. Among the items listed are aromatic substances, barley, reeds, and what may be oil or fat. Totals are noted for rations consumed or disbursed. The final lines record large quantities of barley and aromatics, likely a summary or grand total for the transaction. Much of the precise detail — which goods exactly, and which institutions or persons are ultimately responsible — remains uncertain because the signs are so archaic.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1(N45) 6(N14) — PAP~a, [official of] SZU/|GISZxSZU2~a| 1(N45) 1(N14) 3(N01) — herald, [festival/place sign] |EZEN~a+KI| 1(N45) 1(N14) 3(N01) — herald, EN BIR3~a 1(N45) — GI6, BU~b, NI~a [night/oil/fat commodity?] 6(N14) — herald, SZITA~a1, DU6~a 1(N45) — herald, BA [disbursed] 5(N14) — E2~b, DU [house/storehouse, delivered/brought] 3(N34) 1(N14) — EN~a, SZIM~a [lord/official, aromatic/spice] 1(N34) — MAR~a, APIN~a [vessel/plow or plow-team] — GU7 [consumed/ration] 6(N34) 1(N45) 1(N14) — GU7 [total consumed/ration disbursed] 4(N34) 2(N45) 2(N14) 3(N01) 3(N39~a) — GI, GAN2 [reeds, field] 1(N48) 1(N34) 3(N14) 3(N01) 3(N39~a) — SZE~a, KU~b2, SZIM~a, GAL~a, |1(N58).BAD~a| [barley, [quality marker?], aromatics, large/great, [totaling sign?]]
Our translation engine — Sonnet 4.6. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Transliteration
1(N45) 6(N14) , PAP~a SZU |GISZxSZU2~a| 1(N45) 1(N14) 3(N01) , NIMGIR |EZEN~a+KI| 1(N45) 1(N14) 3(N01) , NIMGIR EN~a BIR3~a 1(N45) , GI6 BU~b NI~a 6(N14) , NIMGIR SZITA~a1 DU6~a 1(N45) , NIMGIR BA 5(N14) , E2~b DU 3(N34) 1(N14) , EN~a SZIM~a 1(N34) , MAR~a APIN~a , GU7 6(N34) 1(N45) 1(N14) , GU7 4(N34) 2(N45) 2(N14) 3(N01) 3(N39~a) , GI GAN2 1(N48) 1(N34) 3(N14) 3(N01) 3(N39~a) , SZE~a KU~b2 SZIM~a GAL~a |1(N58).BAD~a|
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Uruk III (ca. 3200-3000 BC)) — MSVO 3, 24. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Land Berlin, Berlin, Germany (P005335) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-4-6 (2026-05-28/v6-glossary-aware).
Related tablets
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.
Marks the boundary between proto-writing and writing. We can see signs being used systematically — but not yet phonetically. The leap to recording speech itself comes a few centuries later.
The earliest historical document in human history. Before this, we have lists, accounts, and dedications. Here, for the first time, a ruler tells us what happened — with names, places, and consequences.