Position in chronology
AAICAB 1/3, pl. 222, Bod S 180
About this tablet
This is a small Ur III administrative loan receipt from Umma, dated to the year after 'Anšan was destroyed' (a year-name of king Šu-Suen, so this text dates to roughly 2025 BCE in the conventional short chronology). It records barley — earmarked for making flour — lent out at interest, with the interest already reckoned as paid, handed over from a man named Adda to Lugal-ištaran, son of Lugal-lu-[x]. Thousands of such small loan and receipt tablets survive from Umma's temple and household archives, giving historians a remarkably granular view of everyday credit and grain economy in Mesopotamia four thousand years ago.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This tablet records a loan of 5 gur, 3 ban2, and 6 sila3 of barley (the royal standard measure), intended for making flour. The loan carried interest, and that interest has already been settled in full. The barley came from a man named Adda and was received by Lugal-ištaran, son of Lugal-lu-[x]. The transaction is dated to the year following the one called 'Anšan was destroyed' — a standard Ur III dating formula referencing a royal military campaign.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine5 gur 3 ban2 6 sila3 barley, royal (gur)-measure — barley for flour, as an interest-bearing loan; the interest has been added (satisfied). From Adda, Lugal-ištaran received (it). Year following: "Anšan was destroyed." Lugal-ištaran, son of Lugal-lu-[x].
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(asz) 3(ban2) 6(disz) sila3 sze gur lugal sze zi3-da ur5-ra masz i3-ib2-si ki ad-da-ta lugal-isztaran szu ba-ti mu us2-sa an-sza-an ba-hul lugal-isztaran# dumu lugal-lu2-[x]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — AAICAB 1/3, pl. 222, Bod S 180. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format). [year-name] Dated to Šulgi y36 — Year after: Anšan destroyed based on canonical year-name formula in the transliteration.
Attribution
Image: Bod S 180 (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, UK) — from Umma (mod. Tell Jokha) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P249082). source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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