Position in chronology
TMH 05, 073
About this tablet
A field-survey record from Nippur in southern Iraq, dating to the Early Dynastic period (mid-third millennium BCE). A surveyor measured plots of land by their short and long sides and then computed their area in the standard Sumerian units of bur and eše. It is a small but early witness to the practical geometry that underpinned Mesopotamian land management and taxation, and the arithmetic checks out: 180 by 240 rods does indeed give 24 bur.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
A plot measuring 180 rods across the front and 240 rods along its length comes to 24 bur of field. Another plot, 85 rods on the front and 85 rods long, comes to 4 bur. Two long strips amount to 2 bur and 2 eše. Three long strips, plus one further item whose description is damaged, amount to 4 bur. The back of the tablet is blank.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine(obverse) 180 (ninda) the front (short side), nig-ra; its length (long side): 240 (ninda); 24 bur (of) field. 85 (ninda) the front (short side); its length (long side): 85 (ninda); 4 bur (of) field. 2 long (strips); 2 bur 2 eše (of) field. 3 long (strips); 1 [...] ...; 4 bur (of) field. (reverse: uninscribed)
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
3(gesz2@c) sag nig2-ra2 us2-be6 4(gesz2@c) 2(bur'u@c) 4(bur3@c) GAN2 1(gesz2@c) 2(u@c) 5(asz@c) sag us2-be6 1(gesz2@c) 2(u@c) 5(asz@c) 4(bur3@c) GAN2 2(disz@t) gid2-da 2(bur3@c) 2(esze3@c) GAN2 3(disz@t) gid2-da 1(asz@c) [x] zu# 4(bur3@c) GAN2
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340 BC)) — TMH 05, 073. 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: Hilprecht Collection, University of Jena, Germany (P020487) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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