Position in chronology
JANES 18, 42 04
About this tablet
A small administrative order from Nippur in the early Old Babylonian period, dated by year name to the reign of Išbi-Erra, founder of the Isin dynasty after the fall of Ur (early 20th century BCE). The tablet records commodities — oil and apparently livestock — with an instruction to hand them over to a man named Lu-damu, and it was sealed by Abuni, a royal steward who proclaims himself the king's servant. Such sealed dockets are the everyday paperwork by which the new Isin state kept control of its stores during a turbulent transition of power in southern Mesopotamia.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
The top of the tablet is damaged, but it listed quantities of oil and other goods, including three head of cattle or similar items. The order reads: hand these over to Lu-damu. It is dated to the month of Gusisu (roughly April–May), in the year King Išbi-Erra installed the high priestess of the god Lugal-Erra. The official who sealed it identifies himself on his seal: 'Išbi-Erra, mighty king, king of his land — Abuni, the steward, son of Nūr-ilī, is your servant.' The first two lines are too broken to read fully.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine[...] oil [...] ... 3 [...] cow(s)(?) (For) Lu-damu: give (it) to him! (šum-mu-na-ab-[...]) Month: Gusisu (Month II). Year: the nin-dingir priestess of (the god) Lugal-Erra was installed. Seal inscription: Išbi-Erra, mighty king, king of his land — Abuni, the steward, son of Nūr-ilī, (is) your servant.
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
[...] i3 [...] x 3(disz) [x] AB lu2-da-mu szum2-mu na-ab-x iti gu4-si-su mu nin-dingir lugal-er2#-ra ba-il2 isz-bi-er3-ra lugal kal-ga lugal ma-da-na a-bu-ni agrig dumu nu-ur2-i3-li2 ARAD2-zu
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Early Old Babylonian (ca. 2000-1900 BC)) — JANES 18, 42 04. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: OIM A30006 (Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA) — from Nippur (mod. Nuffar) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P200669). source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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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.