Position in chronology
MVN 03, 037
About this tablet
A small receipt from the Sargonic (Old Akkadian) period, around 2300–2150 BCE. A man named Ur-Enlil acknowledges receiving barley from two households, plus barley, dates, a special grade of barley and a further commodity handed over by Lugal-anne. The total is credited to Lugal-anne's account. It is ordinary record-keeping that tracks who owed or supplied grain to whom, from a place in Mesopotamia that is not recorded.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Ur-Enlil acknowledges these receipts. He took 1 gur 3 barig of barley from the household of Almu and 1 gur 1 barig from the household of Zamu. Lugal-anne gave him 2 barig and about 5 sila more, and then 2 ban of dates, 1 ban of speckled barley and 2 barig of another commodity, possibly wool. The total is roughly 3 gur 3½ barig 5 sila, and it is entered as Lugal-anne's. Ur-Enlil signs for it as received.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engineObverse/Reverse (sides not marked in the transliteration): 1. 1(?) gur 3 barig of barley 2. from the house of Almu 3. received. 4. 1 gur 1 barig from the house of Zamu 5. received. 6. 2 barig 5(?) sila, Lugal-anne 7. gave to him. 8. 2 ban of dates, 9. 1 ban of 'speckled' barley, 10. 2 barig of wool (?) TUM 11. he gave to him. 12. Their total: 3 gur 3 ½(?) barig 5(?) sila, also(?) 13. it is Lugal-anne's. 14. Ur-Enlil 15. received.
Our translation engine — Opus 5.5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Spotted an error? Suggest a correction — confirmed corrections feed the engine's knowledge base.
Transliteration
1(asz@c)#? 3(barig@c) sze gur e2 al-mu-ta szu ba-ti 1(asz@c) 1(barig@c) e2 za3-mu-ta szu ba-ti 2(barig@c) |SILA3x5(DISZ)|? lugal-an-ne2 i3-na-szum2 2(ban2) zu2-lum 1(ban2) sze gun3 2(barig@c) siki TUM i3-na-szum2 szu-nigin2-bi3 3(asz@c) 3(barig@c) 1/2(barig@c)? |SILA3x5(DISZ)|? in-ga? gur lugal-an-ne2-kam ur-en-lil2-ke4 szu# ba#-ti
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — MVN 03, 037. 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: Free Library of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA (P215692) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-opus-5-5 (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.
A surviving administrative record of named people and livestock in the Ur III period. Together with other archives, such accounts reveal the work of managing animals, deliveries and institutional responsibility.