Position in chronology
MCS 9, 262
About this tablet
An administrative account from the Old Akkadian (Sargonic) period, probably from Uruk in southern Iraq, recording deliveries of foodstuffs to two high dignitaries of the city. The governor of Uruk receives a young goat and hundreds of fish; the pašeš-priest receives a mountain sheep, duck eggs, and even larger quantities of fish. It is a glimpse of how the river and marsh economy of Sumer — fish by the hundreds, counted and graded by type — provisioned the political and religious elite around 2300 BCE.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Issued to the governor of Uruk: one young goat, five split (dried) fish, and six hundred giri-us fish. Issued to the pašeš-priest of Uruk: one mountain sheep, nine duck eggs, eighty split fish, and three hundred giri-us fish. A short delivery note from the city's provisioning office, tallying livestock, eggs, and bulk fish for the two leading officials of Uruk.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1. 1 kid (young goat), 2. 5 split fish, 3. 600 giri-us fish: 4. (for) the governor (ensi) of Uruk. 5. 1 mountain sheep, 6. 10 minus 1 (= 9) duck eggs, 7. 80 split fish, 8. 300 giri-us fish: 9. (for) the pašeš-priest of Uruk.
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) masz2 5(asz@c) ku6 dar-ra 1(gesz'u@c) ku6 giri3-us2 ensi2 unu#-ga 1(asz@c) udu kur 1(u@c) la2 1(asz@c) nunuz uz 1(gesz2@c)# 2(u@c)# ku6# dar#-ra 5(gesz2@c)# ku6# giri3#-us2 pa4-szesz unu-ga
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — MCS 9, 262. This record has no stored scholarly English translation; the existence of published translations has not been checked; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: World Museum Liverpool, Liverpool, UK (P215533) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5 (2026-09-20/v8-evolved).
Related tablets
Related sources
An early example of administrative writing from Uruk. Its fragmentary numerical entries and commodity signs document record-keeping during the formative period of writing.
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