Position in chronology
ArOr 87, 033-057 07
About this tablet
This is a small Ur III administrative receipt from the royal livestock bureau of Puzriš-Dagan (modern Drehem), the great redistribution center that processed animals for the state and temples under the Third Dynasty of Ur. It records five sheep, designated for ewes, transferred from an official named Abba-saga and taken in charge by Puzur-Enlil, son of Lu-kalla, in the city of Nippur. At the bottom is the caption of the seal that was rolled onto the tablet — naming the same Puzur-Enlil but giving his father as Ezi-mu rather than Lu-kalla, a small but genuine discrepancy sometimes seen on these tablets between the body text and the sealer's own identification.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Five sheep, allotted for the ewes, were transferred from Abba-saga's account and received by Puzur-Enlil, son of Lu-kalla, at Nippur. The transaction is dated to the twelfth month, in the year Huhnuri was destroyed. The tablet also bears the seal impression of a Puzur-Enlil, identified there as the son of Ezi-mu — the same name as the receiving official, though with a different father's name given on the seal.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine5 sheep, for the ewes, from Abba-saga, Puzur-Enlil, son of Lu-kalla, received (took in charge). In Nippur. Month: "Harvest" (month XII). Year: "Huhnuri was destroyed." (Seal legend:) Puzur-Enlil, son of [Ezi-mu].
Our translation engine — Sonnet 5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
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Transliteration
5(disz) udu mu u8-sze3 ki ab-ba-sa6-ga-ta puzur4-en-lil2 dumu lu2-kal-la i3-dab5 sza3 nibru iti sze-sag11-ku5 mu hu-uh3-nu-ri ba-hul puzur4#-en-lil2 dumu [e2-zi-mu]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — ArOr 87, 033-057 07. 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).
Attribution
Image: PPL 03 (Phoenix Public Library, Phoenix, Arizona, USA) — from Puzriš-Dagan (mod. Drehem) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P498527). source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
Related tablets
Related sources
An early example of administrative writing from Uruk. Its fragmentary numerical entries and commodity signs document record-keeping during the formative period of writing.
A surviving administrative record of named people and livestock in the Ur III period. Together with other archives, such accounts reveal the work of managing animals, deliveries and institutional responsibility.