Position in chronology
CUSAS 35, 153
About this tablet
A small bun-shaped accounting tablet from Adab in southern Iraq, written around 2400 BCE. It records two identical issues of five gur of emmer-and-wheat flour — one for the chief constable, one for the chief herald — delivered for the "house of the children," with the scribe Ur-Ninmug named as the person to whom the grain was handed over. The last lines date the transaction to the month Duku and file it under the household of the overseer (nu-banda). It is exactly the kind of routine ration paperwork that kept an Early Dynastic city-state's officials fed.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Two allocations of five gur each of emmer-and-wheat flour were issued: one to the chief constable, one to the chief herald. The flour was delivered on behalf of the "house of the children," and handed over to Ur-Ninmug the scribe. Dated to the month of Duku, the account is filed under the commodity heading "emmer and wheat" and charged to the household of the overseer.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine5 gur of flour of emmer (and) wheat — (for) the chief constable (gal5-lá-gal); 5 gur of flour of emmer (and) wheat — (for) the chief herald (nimgir-gal); for the "house of the children" (e₂-dumu) he delivered (it). Ur-Ninmug, the scribe — it was given to him. Month: Duku (the "Holy Mound"). (Summary/label:) emmer (and) wheat — the household of the overseer (nu-[banda]).
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
5(asz@c) zi3 ziz2 gig gur gal5-la2-gal 5(asz@c) zi3 ziz2 gig gur nimgir-gal e2#-dumu-sze3 an-de6 ur-nin-mug dub-sar-ra an-na-szum2 iti du6-ku3 ziz2 gig# e2 nu#-[banda3]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340 BC)) — CUSAS 35, 153. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Schøyen Collection, Oslo, Norway (P252781) — 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.