Position in chronology
NRVN 1, 003
About this tablet
A legal record from Nippur in southern Iraq, dated to the seventh year of King Šu-Suen of the Ur III dynasty (around 2030 BCE). It concerns a small vacant building plot — about 288 square meters — and the guarantee, backed by the city's declaration and an oath sworn in the king's name, that no one will raise a future claim against the transaction. Four named witnesses attest the deal, and the tablet was sealed by two of the parties. It is a vivid example of how ordinary real-estate dealings were secured by both civic authority and royal oath four thousand years ago.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This document concerns a vacant lot of 8 sar, connected with the palace house and a man named Zarrini-...; it carries the seals of Agu-zaḫalum and Šu-ilī. By the city's official declaration, the parties swore an oath in the king's name that no one will come back later and dispute this agreement. Four witnesses signed off on it: Ipālis, Šu-Iškur, Aḫānišu, and Bulālia. Dated to the year King Šu-Suen of Ur destroyed the land of Zabšali — his seventh year on the throne, roughly 2031 BCE.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine8 sar of vacant lot (unbuilt plot), the house of the palace ..., (of/belonging to) Zarrini-...(KU); sealed document of Agu-zaḫalum and Šu-ilī. By the declaration of the city, that no one shall contest this agreement, the name of the king is present (an oath by the king was sworn). 1: Ipālis, 1: Šu-Iškur, 1: Aḫānišu, 1: Bulālia — these are its witnesses. Year: Šu-Suen, king of Ur, destroyed the land of Zabšali.
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
8(disz) sar kislah e2 e2-gal x za-ar-ri-ni-KU kiszib3 a-gu-za-ha-lum u3 szu-i3-li2 inim iri-ta inim-ba lu2 nu-ub-gi4-gi4-da mu lugal i3-gal2 1(disz) i3-pa2-li2-is 1(disz) szu-iszkur 1(disz) a-ha-ni-szu 1(disz) bu-la-li2-a lu2-inim-ma-bi-me mu szu-suen lugal uri5 ma-da za-ab-szal mu-hul
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — NRVN 1, 003. 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: Ist Ni 00370 (casts: CBS 09705, CBS 09774 ?) (Arkeoloji Müzeleri, Istanbul, Turkey) — from Nippur (mod. Nuffar) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P122216). source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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