Position in chronology
TMH 05, 104
About this tablet
A short Early Dynastic account from Nippur, listing three kinds of woolen textiles — coarse mug wraps, bar-dul₅ cloaks, and ḫala'um garments — each batch weighed at 60 minas (roughly 30 kg). The cloth is not for people but for a chariot: it was used to drape or upholster the vehicle, probably a ceremonial or processional one. A man with an Akkadian name, Ilum-bani, is recorded as the person responsible for the material. It is a small window onto how Sumerian temple households tracked wool by weight and assigned custody of it to a named officer.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Textile inventory: 36 coarse woolen wraps, weighing 60 minas in total; 17 outer cloaks, also 60 minas; and 21 ḫala'um garments, again 60 minas. All of this cloth serves as the covering for the chariot. The stock is charged to Ilum-bani, who is accountable for it.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine36 mug-garments (coarse wool wraps), their weight: 60 minas. 17 bar-dul₅ cloaks, their weight: 60 minas. 21 ḫa[la'um]-garments, their weight: 60 minas. They clothe the chariot. Ilum-bani holds them (lit. "they are with him").
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
3(u@c) 6(asz@c) tug2 mug ki-la2-be6 1(gesz2@c) ma-na 1(u@c) 7(asz@c) bar-dul5 ki-la2-be6 1(gesz2@c) ma-na 2(u@c) 1(asz@c) tug2 ha#-[la-um] ki-la2-be6 1(gesz2@c) ma-na gigir-ra ab-mu4 i3-lum-ba-ni an-da-gal2
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340 BC)) — TMH 05, 104. 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 (P020518) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-opus-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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