Position in chronology
UET 2, 0176
About this tablet
A badly broken accounting tablet from the very early city of Ur, written around 2800–2600 BCE, when writing was still close to its origins. Each line pairs a number — punched into the clay as round holes for tens and sixties — with terse sign-groups naming goods, plants, or categories of personnel, some of them female. The quantities run as high as 110, so this was serious institutional bookkeeping, perhaps by a temple or palace household; a possible mention of the 'king' survives in the final line. It comes from Leonard Woolley's excavations at Ur and shows the everyday arithmetic of one of the world's first cities.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This is a running tally, most of it lost to damage. What survives reads roughly: 60 units connected with women (or fine-quality goods) of the household; 40 of something labelled ME-NE; 22 of a garden plant; at least 3 for an entry mentioning a dais and 'mother'; then a big entry of 110 covering a dairy product and items under a supervisor; 80 more under another official; 14 of the 'small' or junior category; 5 of a female category; and a further entry of at least 10. The last legible word may be 'king'. The beginnings and ends of most lines, and everything around the breaks, are gone.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine(obverse) [...] : [...] ... 60 (6×N14) : female ... TI, of the house(hold) 40 (4×N14) : ME NE 22 (2×N14 + 2×N01) : ZU&ZU.SAR-plant, water(ed?) [...] + 3 (3×N01) : dais(-official?) BARA2, mother/AMA, SI [...] : [...] ... 110 (1×N34 + 5×N14) : GARA2 (dairy product?), NE, PAP-official(?), wood/tree, PA(-official?) 80 (1×N34 + 2×N14) : PA3, DA [...] 14 (1×N14 + 4×N01) [...] : small/junior (TUR) [...] 5 (5×N01) : [...] female [...] [...] : [...] ... 10 (1×N14) + [...] : [...] ... : the king(?) [...] (remainder broken)
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
[...] , [...] X 6(N14@f) , SAL TI# E2~a 4(N14@f) , ME~a NE~a# 2(N14@f)# 2(N01@f) , |(ZU&ZU).SAR~a| A [...] 3(N01@f)# , BARA2~a AMA~b# SI [...] , [...] X 1(N34@f)# 5(N14@f) , GARA2~a NE~a PAP~a GISZ~v PA~a 1(N34@f) 2(N14@f) , PA3# DA~a# [...] 1(N14@f) 4(N01@f) [...] , TUR [...] 5(N01@f)# , [...] SAL [...] [...] , [...] X 1(N14@f)# [...] , [...] , LUGAL#? [...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED I-II (ca. 2900-2700 BC)) — UET 2, 0176. 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: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA (P005763) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
Related tablets
Related sources
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