Position in chronology
UET 2, 0055
About this tablet
An accounting tablet from the very early city of Ur, written around 2800 BCE, in the first generations after writing was invented. It records quantities of grain or bread rations issued to, or on account of, named individuals — one entry mentions the moon-god Nanna, Ur's patron deity, suggesting a link to his temple administration. The right side of the tablet was left blank and the end is broken, so we see only part of the original account. Tablets like this are among the oldest economic documents from Ur, excavated by Leonard Woolley in 1930.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This is a short grain ledger. Two large measures of bread or grain are booked under 'Nanna' (probably the moon-god's temple) for a man called Sag-Ur. Another entry of two large measures and one small one goes to a party written SI-ME-NAGA. A third, larger allotment — one large measure, one middling, and two small — is for Amar-gibil, of the household. Then come two unnumbered label lines, one of them a compound sign we can't fully interpret, the other mentioning bread again. A final entry of two large measures trails off where the tablet is broken; the rest is lost.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine(obverse, column 1) 2 (N51 grain-measures) — bread(-rations) (GAR) of Nanna; Sag-Ur. 2 (N51) 1 (N14 grain-measures) — SI, ME, NAGA (?). 1 (N51) 1 (N34) 2 (N14 grain-measures) — Amar-gibil, of the household (E₂). (no number) — ḪI׊E₃ (sign compound; label or personal name). (no number) — ... (sign lost) ... GI₄, bread(-rations) (GAR). 2 (N51) [+ broken sign] — [rest of line lost]. (remainder of tablet uninscribed or effaced)
Our translation engine — Fable 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
2(N51@f) , GAR NANNA~a SAG UR~a 2(N51@f) 1(N14@f) , SI ME~a NAGA~a 1(N51@f) 1(N34@f@t) 2(N14@f) , AMAR GIBIL E2~a , |HIxSZE3@t| , X GI4~b GAR 2(N51@f) X , [...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED I-II (ca. 2900-2700 BC)) — UET 2, 0055. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: British Museum, London, UK (P005628) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
Related tablets
Related sources
One of the earliest specimens of human writing. Not literature, not law — accounting. The need to keep track of grain in a temple bureaucracy is what pushed marks-on-clay into a system that could one day carry epics.
A window into the world's first total state. The Ur III administration tracked every animal, every worker, every shekel — for a population in the millions. The level of paperwork was not exceeded until the modern era.