Position in chronology
OIP 092, 0049
About this tablet
An Elamite administrative memorandum from the Persepolis Fortification Archive, the vast paper-trail of the Achaemenid Persian empire's supply system around 500 BCE. It records a sizeable consignment of wine — about 290 liters — issued from the stock of a named supplier, taken over by a named official, and moved to another station explicitly 'on behalf of the king.' Thousands of such small clay dockets tracked food and drink moving between way-stations around Persepolis, and this one shows the royal household's provisioning at work.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Receipt for thirty marriš of wine (roughly 290 liters), drawn from the stores managed by Ušaya. The official Battikamaš took delivery of it as rations, and the wine was then transported onward — the destination names are hard to make out, perhaps Parnumati and Ukbeyataš — with the whole transaction booked to the king's account. In short: royal wine, signed out by one supply officer, handed to another, and shipped down the road for the crown.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine30 marriš of wine, supplied by (kurmin) Ušaya. Battikamaš, the iršurra(?)-official, (its) irdaša(?), received (it) at Ansara(?) as rations (galma duiš). He carried (it) to Parnumati(š); at Ukbeyataš, on behalf of the king (šunkina-ma).
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(u) mar-ri-isz _gesztin-mesz_ kur-min2 u2-sza2-ia-na bat-ti-ka4-ma-a-sza2 ir-isz#?-szu#?-ur-ra ir-da-a-sza2 an-sa-ra gal#-ma du-isz par2-nu!-ma-ti-isz ku-ti-isz uk-be-ia-tasz _eszszana_-na-ma
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Achaemenid (547-331 BC)) — OIP 092, 0049. 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, P382735). source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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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.