Position in chronology
CUSAS 35, 124
About this tablet
A small clay tablet from Adab in southern Iraq, written in the Early Dynastic period (roughly the 25th–24th century BCE). It is a barley-disbursement account: measured rations go to a group of textile workers, to female laborers at two ban apiece, to a household called the "House of the Children," and to two named or titled recipients. A vizier named Za-mu is recorded as the official who authorized the transaction, and the barley is finally handed over to a man named Na-ni under the supervision of the overseer Di-Utu. Documents like this are the routine bookkeeping of a temple or palace estate — the paper trail that kept an ancient city fed.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Barley disbursement record. Just over one barig of grain goes to the textile workers; this allotment belongs to Unu, and the vizier Za-mu authorized it. Another one gur and one barig covers the female work crew at two ban each, assigned to the House of the Children. Nine measures go to ENGUR-TUM, and four ban to Giri-giri. The grain was brought in and handed over to Na-ni. Certified by Di-Utu, the overseer. The last few lines are damaged and partly restored.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine[n(+)] 1 barig of barley (in gur measure): (for) the textile-worker(s); it is (of/for) Unu; Za-mu the vizier — its commissioner. 1 (gur) 1 barig — female workers, (at) 2 ban each; (for) the House of the Children. 9 (i.e. 10 minus 1) — ENGUR-TUM; 4 ban — Giri-giri. Barley bro[ught (in)]; to Na-[ni] he [gave (it)]. Di-[Utu], the over[seer].
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
[n] 1(barig@c) sze gur tug2#-du8 unu#-kam za3#?-mu sukkal maszkim-bi 1(asz@c) 1(barig@c) geme2 2(ban2@c) e2-dumu 1(u@c) la2 1(asz@c) ENGUR-TUM 4(ban2@c) giri3-giri3# sze DU#-[a?] na-[ni] in#-[na-szum2] di#-[utu] nu-[banda3]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340 BC)) — CUSAS 35, 124. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Schøyen Collection, Oslo, Norway (P252723) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-opus-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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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.