Position in chronology
WF 014
About this tablet
An administrative record from Šuruppak (modern Fara) in southern Iraq, written around 2500 BCE during the Early Dynastic period. It lists donkeys assigned to or received from named individuals — among them a foreman of builders, an ordinary builder, and a leatherworker — plus men associated with the cities of Lagash and Adab, ending with a count of plow-donkeys. It is a small window into how a Sumerian city-state managed its working animals, and shows draft power moving between craftsmen and neighboring cities centuries before any king of legend.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This is a donkey ledger. Dar-da has four donkeys on his account. AK-nab, the construction foreman, has one; the builder Dingir-nume has one; the leatherworker Dumu-anzux has one. Two are booked to E-na of Lagash and two to E-lalum of Adab. A line notes a location or category called An-še-gu — perhaps 'the upper bank'. The record closes with two and three-quarters plow-donkeys (the fraction likely reflecting a share or accounting convention) and the note that this is a stand-alone tablet, not part of a summary account.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine(obverse) 4 donkeys: Dar-da; 1: AK-nab, the overseer of the builders; 1: Dingir-nume, the builder; 1: Dumu-anzux, the leatherworker; 2: E-na, (of) Lagash; (reverse) 2: E-lalum, (of) Adab; — An-še-gu (the 'upper bank'?); 2¾ plow-donkeys. A single (separate) tablet.
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
4(asz@c) ansze dar-da 1(asz@c) AK-nab ugula szitim 1(asz@c) dingir-nu-me szitim 1(asz@c) dumu-anzux(MI) aszgab 2(asz@c) e2-na lagasz 2(asz@c) e2-la-lumx(LAK218) adab an-sze3-gu2 2(asz@c) 3/4(asz@c) ansze-apin dub dili
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIa (ca. 2600-2500 BC)) — WF 014. 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: Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin, Germany (P010971) — 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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