Position in chronology
MCS 9, 252
About this tablet
A short letter in Sumerian from the age of the Akkadian empire (around 2300–2200 BCE), dictated by a man named Ur-Utu to one Šeš-šeš-mu. Letters of this period open with a fixed messenger formula — 'say to so-and-so: this is what so-and-so says' — because the tablet was meant to be read aloud by a courier. The message itself invokes the authority of Agade, the imperial capital: no one is to harm a man of Agade, and someone is to be sent back concerning the return of servants. It is a small but vivid glimpse of how the capital's name alone carried legal and political weight in the provinces.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Message from Ur-Utu, to be delivered to Šeš-šeš-mu: Agade is the king's city — a citizen of Agade must not be killed. Send a man back to the place where the servants are to be returned. The tablet ends with a dating note, now broken, that recorded the year and month.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1. Ur-Utu — 2. (this is) what he says: 3. to Šeš-šeš-mu 4. speak! 5. [A]gade — it is the king('s)! 6. A man of Agade 7. must not be killed. 8. To the place where the servants are to be returned 9. let a man be sent back. 10. [n years, n months]
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
ur#-utu#-ke4 na-be2-a szesz-szesz-mu u3#-na-du11 [a]-ga-de3 lugal-am3 lu2# a-ga-de3 na-ne-gaz-e ki er3-gi4-gi4-sze3 lu2 he2-gi4-gi4 [n mu n iti]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — MCS 9, 252. 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 (P215523) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5 (2026-09-20/v8-evolved).
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