Position in chronology
Subartu 02, 115
About this tablet
A small barley account from Tell Beydar (ancient Nabada) in northeastern Syria, written around 2400 BCE, in the Early Dynastic period. It lists measured rations of grain issued to named people — an overseer called Lu-geš-DU, a man in charge of sheep, a wife, Aḫatum, Šu-kabba, Azazu — along with fodder for two plough-donkeys and the work-gang, and closes with a total and the month plus the name of the responsible official. Beydar's tablets are among the oldest written documents from Syria, and texts like this one show a northern palace household keeping the same kind of careful grain bookkeeping as the far better-known cities of southern Mesopotamia.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Grain issued: Lu-geš-DU, 5 units; goods, 1 gur 5 ban; overseer Lu-geš-DU, 1 gur 1 barig 3 ban; Bari of the sheep, 4 gur 5 barig 3 ban; the wife, 6 units; goods, 4 barig; Aḫatum, 2 barig; Šu-kabba, 2 barig; Azazu, 1 barig; charged to Ḫar-da-nu, 8 units; goods, 8 barig 2 ban. Two plough-donkeys and the work crew: 5 barig of barley eaten as feed. Grand total 4 gur 2 ban. Filed for the month, under Bēlī-ZI.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engineLu-geš-DU: 5. Goods (nig₂): 1 gur 5 ban₂. The overseer Lu-geš-DU: 1 (gur) 1 barig 3 ban₂. Bari, (of the) sheep: 4 (gur) 5 barig 3 ban₂. The wife: 6. Goods (nig₂): 4 barig. Aḫatum: 2 barig. Šu-kabba: 2 barig. Azazu: 1 barig. Receipt (šu) of Ḫar-da-nu: 8. Goods (nig₂): 8 barig 2 ban₂. Plough-donkeys: 2 — the work-gang (erin₂). Barley consumed (as fodder/rations): 5 barig. Total: 4 gur 2 ban₂. Month-record (iti-sar): Bēlī-ZI.
Our translation engine — Opus 5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
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Transliteration
lu2-gesz-DU 5(asz@c) nig2# 1(asz@c) gur 5(ban2@c) ugula# lu2-gesz-DU 1(asz@c) 1(barig@c) 3(ban2@c) ba-ri2 udu 4(asz@c) 5(barig@c) 3(ban2@c) dam 6(asz@c) nig2 4(barig@c) a-ha-tum 2(barig@c) szu-kab-ba4# 2(barig@c)# a-za-zu2 1(barig@c) szu HAR-da-nu 8(asz@c) nig2 8(barig@c) 2(ban2@c) ansze apin 2(asz@c) erin2 sze gu7 5(barig@c) szu-nigin2 4(asz@c) gur 2(ban2@c) iti-sar be-li2-ZI
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ebla (ca. 2350-2250 BC)) — Subartu 02, 115. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: National Museum of Syria, Der-ez-Zor, Syria (P227294) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-opus-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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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 window into the world's first total state. The Ur III administration tracked every animal, every worker, every shekel — for a population in the millions. The level of paperwork was not exceeded until the modern era.