Position in chronology
MCS 9, 266
About this tablet
An administrative land record from the city of Umma in southern Iraq, written in the Old Akkadian period (around 2300–2200 BCE). It parcels out plots of farmland — measured in the standard units bur, eše and iku — to named officials, including two scribes and an Amorite, and totals them up as seeded land in an irrigation district called Niḫa. The whole allotment was booked as received by Dudu, a cupbearer, showing how even court functionaries held and managed agricultural land through the state bureaucracy.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This is a field ledger. One parcel of about 7.5 hectares went to Ur-mega, a scribe; another of about 6.5 hectares to a man called Sag-..., an Amorite; a damaged entry records a further amount, less two units, under NIG2-ul; and a final parcel went to Ur-Lamma, also a scribe. Altogether the account totals roughly 22 hectares of land already sown with seed, located in the Niḫa meadow district. Dudu, the cupbearer, formally took charge of the whole allotment.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1. 1(bur3) 1(eše3) of field — 2. Ur-mega, the scribe; 3. 1(bur3) — Sag-[...], 4. the Amorite (Martu); 5. [n less] 2(aš) — NIG2-ul; 6. [n] 1(eše3) 3(iku) of field — 7. Ur-Lamma, 8. the scribe. 9. Total: 3(bur3) 2(eše3) of field, sown with seed, 10. (in) the Niḫa meadow (agar4). 11. Dudu, the cupbearer, 12. took (it) in charge.
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(bur3@c) 1(esze3@c) GAN2 ur-me-ga dub-sar# 1(bur3@c) sag#-[...] mar#-tu [n la2] 2(asz@c)# NIG2-ul [n] 1(esze3)# 3(iku@c) GAN2 ur#-lamma dub#-sar szunigin# 3(bur3@c) 2(esze3@c) GAN2 numun ga2-ra agar4 ni#-ha# du-du sagi# i3-dab5
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — MCS 9, 266. 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 (P215537) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5 (2026-09-20/v8-evolved).
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