Position in chronology
OIP 092, 0040
About this tablet
An Elamite-language administrative record from the Persepolis Fortification archive, the vast filing system of the Persian Empire's heartland under Darius I. It logs 700 measures of grain from a place called Zakzaku, delivered under a named supply officer and received by another official, who converted the grain into beer. Dated to the king's 22nd regnal year (500/499 BCE), it is one of thousands of such receipts showing how meticulously the Achaemenid state tracked food and drink moving through its storehouses around Persepolis.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Warehouse receipt, year 22 of the king. Two lots of grain came in from Zakzaku under the responsibility of the supplier Appumanya: 310 measures of hazati-grain and 390 measures of kurruša-grain, for a combined total of 700 measures of tarmu-grain, which were placed into (royal) storage. Pirriyašba signed for the delivery, and the grain was processed into beer. In today's terms: a stamped intake slip from a government depot, recording who supplied the grain, who received it, what it was used for, and when.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine310 (measures of) hazati-grain, 390 (measures of) kurruša-grain — total: 700 (measures of) tarmu-grain, supplied by Appumanya, from (the place) Zakzaku; (as/at the) royal š... it was deposited. Pirriyašba received (it). He made (it into) beer. 22nd year.
Our translation engine — Fable 5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
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Transliteration
_3(disz) me 1(u)_ ha-za-ti _3(disz) me 1(gesz2) 3(u)_ kur-ru-sza2 _pap 7(disz) me_ tar-mu-mesz kur-min2 ap-pu#-man-ia-na za-ak-za-ku-mar szu#-ir-_eszszana_-ri ku-ut-ka4 pir2-ri-ia-isz-ba du-isz-da da-_kasz-mesz_ hu-da-isz-da be-ul 2(u) 2(disz)-mi-na
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Achaemenid (547-331 BC)) — OIP 092, 0040. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: OIM L— (PFAP, Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA) — from Pārśa (mod. Persepolis) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P382726). source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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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.