Orient 55, 164 no. 11

~2037 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P424377

About this tablet

A one-line piece of temple-farm bookkeeping from the city of Umma in southern Iraq, dated to the eighth year of King Šu-Suen of the Third Dynasty of Ur (around 2030 BCE). A single sheep is disbursed for a religious offering performed at the threshing floor of a named field — a common rite at harvest time, blessing the grain as it was processed. The scribe Lu-Ḫaya, son of a high livestock official, rolled his personal seal across the tablet to acknowledge receipt, showing how even a single animal moved through the state economy under full documentary control.

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

Written in modern English

Receipt: one sheep, issued for the offering ceremony held at the threshing floor of the Ganmah field. The animal came from the account of Ur-halmuša, and Lu-Ḫaya signed for it with his seal. Dated to the year King Šu-Suen had the great ceremonial barge caulked for the gods Enlil and Ninlil. Lu-Ḫaya's seal identifies him as a scribe, son of Ur-e'e, the chief livestock administrator.

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

Translation — our engine

Our engine

Medium confidence

1 sheep, (for the) siskur-offering at the threshing floor of the field GAN-mah; from Ur-halmuša; sealed tablet of Lu-[Ḫa]ya. Year: "Šu-Suen, the king, caulked the magnificent barge for Enlil and Ninlil." (Seal:) Lu-Ḫaya, the scribe, son of Ur-e'e, the chief livestock administrator.

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 — 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) udu
siskur2 ki-su7 a-sza3 GAN2-mah
ki ur-hal-mu-sza4-ta
kiszib3 lu2-[ha]-ia3
mu szu-suen lugal-e ma2-gur8-mah en-lil2 nin-lil2-ra mu-ne-du8
lu2-ha-ia3#
dub-sar
dumu ur-e11-e szusz3

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — Orient 55, 164 no. 11. No scholarly translation has been published; 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: WCMA 20.1.10 (Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, Massachusetts, USA) — from Umma (mod. Tell Jokha) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P424377). source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).

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