Index of translations of Sumerian tablets
Sumerian clay tablets that, as far as we could check, had no published English translation. We translate them ourselves. The page linked above is the index of the series. A new tablet is a new row there, not a list copied into every story.
All translations are new and unofficial, made from transliterations on the Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (CDLI), and may contain errors. Tablet images are credited to the holding institutions and CDLI. Dates use the conventional middle chronology and are approximate.
“Into the palace. Huba and Lugal-badirina were the commissioners; they swore by the king.”
This is a delivery note for a modest amount of food. What makes it unusual is the end: the two officials responsible swore an oath by the king.
It dates to around 2032 BC, the sixth year of King Šu-Suen. CDLI assigns it to Puzriš-Dagan, the royal livestock and supply centre near Nippur, in what is now southern Iraq. The tablet is in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.
The shopping list
Ten litres each of “big pulses” (gu2-gal, probably chickpeas) and “small pulses” (gu2-tur, probably lentils). Ten litres of arzana groats and ten of fine groats. Five litres of babaze, a kind of meal. Ten litres of flour for beer-bread. Five litres each of coriander flour, flour of gazi, a spice plant, and salt. And ten bundles of reeds.
All of it went sza3 e2-gal-la-sze3, “into the palace”. In total that is 70 litres of food and salt, plus the reeds.
Beer-bread (bappir) was used in brewing, so part of this delivery may have been meant for a palace brewery. Here we are speculating.
Two commissioners and an oath
The text names Huba and Lugal-badirina as maškim, commissioners: officials who oversaw or authorised a transaction. Then it says mu lugal-bi in-pa3-de3-esz, “they swore by the king”.
The delivery is booked to the bala of Adalal, the šabra. The bala was a system of rotating obligations, under which the provinces took turns supplying the centre. A šabra was a senior household administrator.
We did not expect an oath in a note like this. Oaths by the king appear in this series mostly in legal records: sales, guarantees, disputes. Here we are speculating, but the oath may confirm that the goods really were delivered, perhaps because the delivery was questioned, or because it counted toward Adalal’s obligation.
What the tablet doesn’t tell us
We don’t know what the commissioners swore: that the goods were delivered, that the amounts were right, or something else.
The verb could also be read as “they are to swear”, an oath still to come rather than one already sworn.
We don’t know which palace is meant, or who in it would eat this food.
And we can’t be certain of several items. Gu2-gal and gu2-tur mean “big pulse” and “small pulse”; chickpea and lentil are the usual identifications, but not proven. Gazi has been identified with more than one plant.
Small things on clay
The Ur III archives record barley, beer and livestock in huge quantities. This tablet is a reminder of the smaller things in the kitchen: pulses, groats, spices, salt. It also shows that even a modest delivery could carry the weight of an oath by the king.
The tablet in full (our translation)
Front: 10 litres of crushed (?) chickpeas (?). 10 litres of lentils (?), second grade (?). 10 litres of arzana groats. 10 litres of fine groats. 5 litres of babaze meal. 10 litres of beer-bread flour. 5 litres of coriander flour. 5 litres of gazi flour.
Back: 5 litres of salt. 10 bundles of reeds: into the palace. Huba and Lugal-badirina were the commissioners; they swore by the king. Bala of Adalal, the šabra. Month: U-bi-gu. Year after the year after Šu-Suen, king of Ur, built the Amorite wall “Muriq-Tidnim”.
How we read it
Key lines in transliteration: sza3 e2-gal-la-sze3, “into the palace”; hu-ba u3 lugal-bad3-iri-na maszkim-me-esz2, “Huba and Lugal-badirina were the commissioners”; and mu lugal-bi in-pa3-de3-esz, “they swore by the king”.
Uncertain: the identity of several foods; whether the oath was sworn or still to be sworn; and its purpose.
Our confidence: medium. The food items are mostly clear; the reason for the oath is not.
This translation is new and unofficial, made from the CDLI transliteration, and may contain errors. “Untranslated” means we found no translation on CDLI or in the tablet’s publication history (MVN 15, 1991, transliterations of tablets in American collections). Dates use the conventional middle chronology and are approximate.