Position in chronology
CUSAS 03, 0976
About this tablet
An accounting record from Garšana, a small settlement in southern Iraq, dated to the sixth year of King Šu-Suen of Ur (about 2032 BCE). It lists animals — a piglet, fattened sheep, and doves — expended over a single month as regular offerings at the funerary libation place of Šu-Kabta, the general and physician who had owned the Garšana estate. It is a vivid glimpse of ancient ancestor cult: the dead master of the household was still fed on a fixed schedule by his estate, and the scribe notes this tablet is itself a filed duplicate.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This month the estate at Garšana issued the following for the regular offerings at Šu-Kabta's funerary cult place: one piglet on the 1st, one barley-fattened sheep on the 10th, one dove on the 15th, another fattened sheep on the 20th, and a fattened sheep plus a dove on the 28th. All of it was drawn from the stock under Iškur-illat's charge. Dated to the month of the Festival of An, in the year King Šu-Suen of Ur built Šara's temple in Umma. This is a duplicate copy.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1 piglet (sucking pig), day 1; 1 barley-fed sheep, day 10; 1 dove (turtledove), day 15; 1 barley-fed sheep, day 20; 1 barley-fed sheep, 1 dove, day 28. Regular offerings for the funerary libation place of Šu-Kabta. From Iškur-illat withdrawn (expended). In Garšana. Month: Festival of An. Year: Šu-Suen, king of Ur, [built] the temple of Šara in Umma. Copy.
Our translation engine — Fable 5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
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Transliteration
1(disz) szah2 ze2-[da] u4 1(disz)-[kam] 1(disz) udu niga u4 1(u)-kam 1(disz) tu u4 1(u) 5(disz)-kam 1(disz) udu niga u4 2(u)-kam 1(disz) udu niga 1(disz) tu u4 2(u) 8(disz)-kam sa2-du11 ki-a-nag szu-kab-ta2 ki iszkur-illat-ta ba-zi sza3 gar-sza-an-na iti ezem-an-na mu szu-suen lugal uri5-ma-ke4 e2 szara2 umma-ka mu-[du3] gaba-ri
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — CUSAS 03, 0976. 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 Šu-Suen y1 — Šu-Suen became king based on canonical year-name formula in the transliteration.
Attribution
Image: CUNES 49-12-036 (Department of Near Eastern Studies, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA) — from Garšana (mod. uncertain) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P323791). source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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