Position in chronology
MAD 5, 110
About this tablet
A short inventory from the Old Akkadian period (roughly 2350–2200 BCE), listing the possessions of a man named Ur-saga. It itemizes his textiles — various garments old and new, raw wool — plus a small quantity of tin for bronze-making and a couple of yokes. Such personal property lists were drawn up when goods changed hands, were stored, or were audited, and they give a vivid snapshot of what a reasonably well-off Mesopotamian household actually owned.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
An itemized list of one man's belongings: one bardul cloak, one šu-garment, three niĝdudu garments, two worn-out bardul cloaks, three minas (about a kilo and a half) of wool, two bundles of wool, two bur-garments, five shekels (roughly 40 grams) of tin for copper alloying, two yokes, and one sash. The closing line states plainly whose it all is: this is the property of Ur-saga.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1. 1 bardul-garment, 2. 1 šu-garment, 3. 3 niĝdudu-garments, 4. 2 old bardul-garments, 5. 3 minas of wool, 6. 2 bundles(?) ... of wool, 7. 2 bur-garments, 8. 5 shekels of tin (for) copper(-alloying), 9. 2 yokes(?), 10. 1 šagadu-sash; 11. (this is) the property of Ur-saga.
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
1(asz@c) tug2 bar-dul5 1(asz@c) tug2 szu 3(asz@c) tug2 nig2-du5-du3 2(asz@c) tug2 bar-dul5 sumun 3(asz@c) ma-na siki 2(asz@c) gi x siki 2(asz@c) tug2 bur2 5(asz@c) gin2 an-na uruda 2(asz@c) erin2 1(asz@c) tug2 sza3-ga-du3 nig2-gur11 ur-sa6-kam
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — MAD 5, 110. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, UK (P215432) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5 (2026-09-20/v8-evolved).
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.
A witness to the extensive livestock administration of the Ur III state. Numerous surviving accounts let historians study deliveries, redistribution and official responsibility in unusual detail.