Object Monday: Cuneiform Tablet Messenger Text

This tablet dates to the reign of King Šū-Sîn of Ur of the Ur III dynasty, who ruled Mesopotamia around 2000 BCE. It is a messenger text, an administrative tablet that records the provisions provided to couriers who carried messages between cities on behalf of state administrators, and describes the quantites of "good quality" beer, onion, oil, and other foodstuffs provided to individual messengers.

Cuneiform, or wedge-shaped script pressed into clay tablets, was invented more than 5000 years in the first states of Mesopotamia, the land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in modern Iraq and parts of Iran, Syria, and Turkey.  The writing was created as an administrative tool to record quantities of foodstuffs, animals, and other economic resources. Over time its use expanded to record law codes, poems, literary works, calendars, recipes, and personal correspondence.  The word cuneifom, meaining wedge-shaped, refers to the form of writing, creating by pressing a reed stylus into a soft clay tablet.  Cuneiform could be used to record multiple languages: Sumerian, Akkadian, Elamite, Hittite and others, and was in use for more than 3000 years.

This tablet is one of a small collection of tablets donated to the Museum by Frank C. Hibben in 1967 that will be featured in the exhibition Cuneiform and Cultural Heritage: Writing, New Ways of Being, and Dislocated Artifacts on display in the Maxwell Museum, opening in May 2023. The exhibition explores what the tablet teach us about ancient Mesopotamia and the long history of archaeology and of heritage destruction and dislocation in the region.

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Transcription/Translation (provided by Dr. Andrea Seri, Professor of Ancient History, National University of Córdoba, Argentina

obverse
1. 5 sila₃ kaš sig₅ 5 sila₃ ninda 5 giĝ₄ šum₂ 3 giĝ₄ i₃ 2 giĝ₄ naĝa
2. šu-be-⸢lum?⸣
3. 5 sila₃ kaš sig₅ 5 sila₃ ninda ⸢5 giĝ₄⸣ šum₂ ⸢3 giĝ₄⸣ i₃ 2 giĝ₄ naĝa
4. lugal-a₂-zi-da
5. 5 sila₃ kaš 5 ⸢sila₃ ninda⸣ 5 giĝ₄ ⸢šum₂⸣ 3 giĝ₄ i₃ 2 giĝ₄ naĝa
6. e₂-a-⸢ra⸣-bi₂
7. 5 sila₃ kaš 5 sila₃ ⸢ninda⸣ 5 giĝ₄ šum₂ 3 giĝ₄ i₃ 2 giĝ₄ naĝa
8. šu-i₃-li₂
9. 5 sila₃ kaš 2 sila₃ ninda 5 giĝ₄ šum₂ 3 giĝ₄ i₃ 2 giĝ₄ naĝa
10. zi-za-num₂
11. 5 sila₃ kaš 2 sila₃ ninda 5 giĝ₄ šum₂ 3 giĝ₄ i₃ 2 giĝ₄ naĝa
12. [a]-a-ĝu₁₀
13. ⸢5 sila₃⸣ kaš 5 sila₃ ninda 5 giĝ₄ šum₂ 3 giĝ₄ i₃ 2 giĝ₄ naĝa
14. ⸢a⸣-zi
reverse
1. ⸢3⸣ sila₃ kaš 2 sila₃ ninda 5 giĝ₄ šum₂ 3 giĝ₄ i₃ 2 giĝ₄ naĝa
2. gu-ru-za
3. 3 sila₃ kaš 2 sila₃ ninda 5 giĝ₄ šum₂ 3 giĝ₄ i₃ 2 giĝ₄ naĝa
4. a-bu-ni
5. 3 sila₃ kaš 2 sila₃ ninda 5 giĝ₄ šum₂ 3 giĝ₄ i₃ 2 giĝ₄ naĝa
6. ku-ku-e
7. 3 ⸢sila₃ kaš⸣ 2 ⸢sila₃⸣ ninda 5 ⸢giĝ₄ šum₂ 3 giĝ₄⸣ i₃ 2 giĝ₄ naĝa
8. AN.GAR₃.NE?
9. 3 ⸢sila₃ kaš⸣ 2 ⸢sila₃ ⸣ ninda 5 giĝ₄ šum₂ 3 giĝ₄ i₃⸣ 2 giĝ₄ naĝa
10. lu₂-la-la-a
11. šu-nigin₂ 1(ban₂) kaš sig₅ šu-nigin₂ 4(ban₂) kaš gin
12. ⸢šu-nigin₂⸣ 3(ban₂) 5 sila₃ ninda šu-nigin₂ 60 sila₃ šum₂
13. ⸢šu-nigin₂⸣ ½ sila₃ 6 giĝ₄ i₃ šu-nigin₂ 1/3 sila₃ ⸢4⸣ giĝ₄ naĝa
14. ⸢ud⸣ 27-kam itipa₄-u₂-e
upper edge
15. mu si-ma-num₂ki ba-hul

obverse 1-25 sila₃ of good-quality beer, 5 sila₃ of bread, 5 giĝ₄ of onions, 3 giĝ₄ of oil, (and) 2 giĝ₄ of salicornia (for) Šubelum. 3-45 sila₃ of good-quality beer, 5 sila₃ of bread, 5 giĝ₄ of onions, 3 giĝ₄ of oil, (and) 2 giĝ₄ of salicornia (for) Lugal-a₂-zida. 5-65 sila₃ of beer, 5 sila₃ of bread, 5 giĝ₄ of onions, 3 giĝ₄ of oil, (and) 2 giĝ₄ of salicornia (for) Ea-rabi. 7-85 sila₃ of beer, 5 sila₃ of bread, 5 giĝ₄ of onions, 3 giĝ₄ of oil, 2 giĝ₄ of salicornia (for) Šū-ili. 9-105 sila₃ of beer, 2 sila₃ of bread, 5 giĝ₄ of onion, 3 giĝ₄ of oil, (and) 2 giĝ₄ of salicornia (for) Zizanum. 11-125 sila₃ of beer, 2 sila₃ of bread, 5 giĝ₄ of onions, 3 giĝ₄ of oil, (and) 2 giĝ₄ of salicornia (for) Ayaĝu. 13-14 5 sila₃ of beer, 5 sila₃ of bread, 5 giĝ₄ of onions, 3 giĝ₄ of oil, (and) 2 giĝ₄ of salicornia (for) A-zi. reverse 1-23 sila₃ of beer, 2 sila₃ of bread, 5 giĝ₄ of onions, 3 giĝ₄ of oil, (and) 2 giĝ₄ of salicornia (for) Gu-ru-za. 3-43 sila₃ of beer, 2 sila₃ of bread, 5 giĝ₄ of onions, 3 giĝ₄ of oil, (and) 2 giĝ₄ of salicornia (for) Abūni. 5-63 sila₃ of beer, 2 sila₃ of bread, 5 giĝ₄ liter of onions, 3 giĝ₄ of oil, (and) 2 giĝ₄ of salicornia (for) Kuku’e. 7-83 sila₃ of beer, 2 sila₃ of bread, 5 giĝ₄ of onions, 3 giĝ₄ of oil, (and) 2 giĝ₄ of salicornia (for) AN.GAR₃-x. 9-103 sila₃ of beer, 2 sila₃ of bread, 5 giĝ₄ of onions, 3 giĝ₄ of oil, (and) 2 giĝ₄ of salicornia (for) Lu₂?-lala. 11Total: 1(ban₂) of good-quality beer. Total: 4(ban₂) of medium-quality beer. 12Total: 3(ban₃) 5(sic)sila₃ of bread. Total: 1 sila₃ of onions. 13Total: ½ sila₃ (and) 6 giĝ₄ of oil. Total: 1/3 sila₃ (and) 4 giĝ₄ of salicornia. 14Day 27th. Month: Pa’u’e. 15Year: Simanum was destroyed.-