MVN 05, 084

~2028 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P114304

About this tablet

A short bookkeeping tablet from Puzriš-Dagan (modern Drehem), the great livestock and labor clearing-house of the Ur III state, dated to the first year of King Ibbi-Sin (c. 2028 BCE). It records a transfer of workmen from one official's account to another's, certified by the seal of a scribe named Abba-kalla, whose name and title are impressed on the tablet itself. The left side of each line is broken away, so the numbers of men and the names of the parties are lost — but the closing formula, the month of the barley harvest, and the year-name survive intact.

Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.

Written in modern English

A number of workmen — the figure is broken off — were transferred from one account and taken over by an official whose name survives only in part. The transaction was certified with the seal of Abba-kalla. Dated to the month of the barley harvest, in the year Ibbi-Sin came to the throne. The seal itself reads: 'Abba-kalla, scribe, son of ...' — the father's name is lost.

A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.

Translation — our engine

Our engine

Medium confidence

[... ] workmen, [from ...], [PN]-ga took in charge (received). [Sealed tablet of Abba-kalla.] Month: še-sag-ku (harvest month). Year: Ibbi-Suen (became) king. (Seal inscription:) Abba-kalla, the scribe, son of [...].

Indicative reading — translated without a photograph. Generated from the transliteration alone, without examining the original. Read it as an accessible first taste, not as a verified catalogue entry.

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

[...] gurusz
[...]-ta
[...]-ga i3-dab5
[kiszib3 ab-ba-kal-la]
iti sze-sag11-ku5
mu i-bi2-suen lugal
ab-ba-kal-la
dub-sar
dumu [...]

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — MVN 05, 084. 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). [year-name] Dated to Ibbi-Suen y1 — Ibbi-Suen became king based on canonical year-name formula in the transliteration.

Attribution

Image: Anonymous 114304 (private: anonymous, unlocated) — from Puzriš-Dagan (mod. Drehem) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P114304). source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-opus-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).

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