Position in chronology
TMH 05, 080
About this tablet
An account of cattle from the city of Nippur, drawn up near the end of the Early Dynastic period or the dawn of the Sargonic age. It tallies draft oxen and calves under two named herdsmen or officials — one of them identified by his brother's name, a common way of pinning down identity — notes that the animals were 'house-born' (bred in-house rather than purchased), and records their transfer by an official named Dingir-gabe. The date is the striking part: the year is named after the destruction of Mari, the great city on the Euphrates, an event most likely tied to Sargon of Akkad's campaigns.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This is a cattle ledger. Some forty-odd draft oxen and five calves are charged to Utu-ikuš; a further group of draft oxen and raft-hauling oxen — the numbers are broken away — is charged to Ur-Ninurta, brother of Dingir-kalga. The animals were counted at the house, and the scribe notes they were all bred in the herd itself, not brought in from outside. A summary line follows but is too damaged to read. Dingir-gabe handed the animals over. Dated to the sowing month, in the year Mari was destroyed.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine(obverse) [x +] 40(?) yoked (draft) oxen, 5 ox-calves: (under) Utu-ikuš. [x] yoked (draft) oxen, [x] raft-hauling oxen: (under) Ur-Ninurta, brother of Dingir-kalga. In the ...-house(?) he counted (them). They are house-born oxen. ... total(?) ... (line obscure) Dingir-gabe gave (them) [to them]. Month: Šu-numun (the sowing month; sign written BAL in error). Year: Mari [was] destroyed.
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
[x] 4(u@c)#? gu4-gesz 5(asz@c) amar-gu4 utu-i3-kusz2 [x] gu4-gesz [x] gu4 ad-la2 ur-nin-urta szesz dingir-kal-ga e2?-ma-na an-szid gu4 ama-tu-kam gi szu nigin2 gu la x dingir-ga2-ab#-[e] i3-ne-[szum2] iti szu-numun!(BAL) mu ma-ri2[] [...]-hul-[x]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340 BC)) — TMH 05, 080. 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 (P020494) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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Related sources
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