Orient 55, 158-159 no. 4

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian·P424382

About this tablet

An administrative receipt from the city of Umma in southern Iraq, written around 2040 BCE under the Third Dynasty of Ur — one of the most bureaucratically meticulous states of the ancient world. It records 612 bundles of reed issued from the stores of one official to another for boat work: outfitting a boat that carried bread and building two more vessels, all in service of the bala, the rotating tax obligation Umma owed to the crown. The tablet was sealed by the receiving official Huwawa and countersigned by the scribe Lu-Ebgal, showing how even a load of reeds moved only with proper paperwork.

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

Written in modern English

Received: 612 bundles of reed, drawn from Lugal-azida's stores. Purpose: loading out the bread-transport boat and constructing two new boats, chargeable to our bala tax rotation. Receipt sealed by Huwawa; the transfer was handled by Gatie. Dated to the year the city of Šaššūrum was destroyed for the second time. Authorized under the seal of Lu-Ebgal, scribe, son of Ur-gepar.

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

Translation — our engine

Our engine

Medium confidence

612 bundles of reed, for lading the bread-boat and for the building of two boats, for the bala-obligation; from Lugal-azida, sealed tablet of Huwawa, via Gatie. Year: "Šaššūrum was destroyed for the second time." (Seal:) Lu-[Ebgal], the scribe, son of Ur-gepar.

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(gesz'u) 1(u) 2(disz) sa gi
ma2 ninda la2-a u3 ma2-2(disz) du3-a bala-sze3
ki lugal-a2-zi-da-ta
kiszib3 hu-wa-wa
giri3 ga-ti-e
mu sza-asz-szu2-ru-um a-ra2 2(disz)-kam ba-hul
lu2-[eb-gal]
dub-sar
dumu ur-ge6-par4

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — Orient 55, 158-159 no. 4. 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: WCMA 20.1.15 (Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, Massachusetts, USA) — from Umma (mod. Tell Jokha) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P424382). source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).

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