Position in chronology
WF 141
About this tablet
A herding account from Šuruppak (modern Fara) in southern Iraq, written about 2500 BCE. Two officials — a herdsman of the small flocks and a cowherd — each turn in three categories of the same commodity, 'gamur', a product of the herds; a scribe then rules a line and adds the two columns together on the reverse. The arithmetic works exactly, which is why this little tablet matters: it lets us confirm the Fara capacity system (1 lidga = 4 barig, 1 barig = 6 ban) from the inside, straight from the accountant's own totals.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Herdsman's column: 899 units of gamur of the nig-du class; 8 lidga 3 ban of gamur under the heading šu-kam; and 19 lidga 2 barig 3 ban (i.e. 20 less 1 barig 3 ban) under the heading šu-tag. Cowherd's column: 111 units of nig-du gamur; 1 lidga 1 barig šu-kam; 2 barig 3 ban šu-tag. Totals on the back: 1,010 units of nig-du gamur, 9 lidga 1 barig 3 ban šu-kam, and 20 lidga 1 barig šu-tag. Every figure adds up.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engineObverse 899 (units of) nig-du gamur; 8 (lidga) 3 ban of gamur, šu-kam — in lidga measure; 20 less 1 barig 3 ban of gamur, šu-tag — in lidga measure; (account of) the herdsman(?). 111 (units of) nig-du gamur; 1 (lidga) 1 barig of gamur, šu-kam — in lidga measure; 2 barig 3 ban of gamur, šu-tag; (account of) the cowherd. Reverse Grand total: 1,010 gamur of the nig-du (type); 9 (lidga) 1 barig 3 ban of gamur, šu-kam — in lidga measure; 20 (lidga) 1 barig of gamur, šu-tag — in lidga measure.
Our translation engine — Opus 5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Spotted an error? Suggest a correction — confirmed corrections feed the engine's knowledge base.
Transliteration
1(gesz'u@c) 5(gesz2@c) la2 1(asz@c) nig2-du3 gamurx(LAK490) 8(asz@c) 3(ban2@c) gamurx(LAK490) szu kam4 lid2-ga 2(u@c) la2 1(barig@c) 3(ban2@c) gamurx(LAK490) szu tag lid2-ga na-gada? 1(gesz2@c) 5(u@c) 1(asz@c) nig2-du3! gamurx(LAK490) 1(asz@c) 1(barig@c) gamurx(LAK490) szu kam4 lid2-ga 2(barig@c) 3(ban2@c) gamurx(LAK490) szu tag unu3 szu-nigin2# 1(gesz'u@c)# 6(gesz2@c)# 5(u@c)# gamurx(LAK490)# nig2#-du3 9(asz@c) 1(barig@c) 3(ban2@c) gamurx(LAK490) szu kam4 lid2-ga 2(u@c) 1(barig@c) gamurx(LAK490) szu tag lid2-ga
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIa (ca. 2600-2500 BC)) — WF 141. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin, Germany (P011099) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-opus-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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