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.
“If he does not measure it out to him, it will be doubled.”
Ur III loan documents are usually short and alike: an amount, an interest rate, a lender, a borrower, a date. This one adds a threat.
It was written around 2028 BC, in the first year of King Ibbi-Suen, the last king of the Third Dynasty of Ur. CDLI assigns it to Puzriš-Dagan, the royal livestock centre near Nippur, in what is now southern Iraq. The tablet is in the Louvre.
The loan
Nur-ili receives from Ur-dukuga “1 gur of barley as an interest-bearing loan”. A gur held 300 litres. The interest is set at 100 litres per gur, one third of the amount borrowed. So Nur-ili owed 400 litres in all.
Repayment is due kislah su-su-da, “to be repaid at the threshing floor”: after the harvest, when the barley was threshed.
The rate is not unusual. In the loan tablets we read while choosing this batch, barley loans carry 100 litres of interest per gur, and silver loans one shekel per five.
The penalty
Then come three lines: tukum-bi nu-un-na-ag2 tab-am3 tab-be2-da. “If he does not measure it out to him, it will be doubled.” Barley was paid by measuring it out, so “measure out” here simply means “pay”.
The clause doesn’t say exactly what doubles. It could be the 300 litres borrowed, the 400 litres owed, or whatever was still unpaid. Any of these would be a heavy burden for a borrower after a bad harvest.
Nur-ili swore by the king, mu lugal-bi in-pa3, the oath that bound a party to an agreement. Two witnesses are named: E-kibi, and Lu-Iškur the scribe. The tablet also carries Nur-ili’s own seal: “Nur-ili, son of Ibbila.”
What the tablet doesn’t tell us
We don’t know whether Nur-ili repaid, or whether the penalty was ever applied.
We don’t know who Ur-dukuga was: a private lender, an official, or someone lending on behalf of an institution.
We don’t know why this loan spells out a doubling penalty. It may reflect the lender’s caution, the borrower’s history, or one scribe’s habit.
And we can’t be sure where it was written. The tablet was published among tablets from Puzriš-Dagan, modern Drehem, and CDLI follows that.
A loan with teeth
Most Ur III loans record only the amount, the interest, the parties and the date. This one also names the consequence of not paying. Here we are speculating, but the lender seems to have wanted more security than an oath alone: a clear, written price for failing to repay on time.
The year matters too. Ibbi-Suen’s reign began well, but his state later lost its grip on its provinces. In this first year, nothing of that is visible. A man borrows barley, swears, seals and promises to pay at harvest.
The tablet in full (our translation)
Front: 300 litres (1 gur) of barley as an interest-bearing loan; interest per gur: 100 litres. From Ur-dukuga, Nur-ili received it. To be repaid at the threshing floor.
Back: If he does not measure it out to him, it will be doubled. He swore by the king. E-kibi; Lu-Iškur, the scribe: they are its witnesses. Month: Še-sag-ku. Year: Ibbi-Suen (became) king.
Seal: Nur-ili, son of Ibbila.
How we read it
Key lines in transliteration: 1(asz) sze gur ur5-sze3, “1 gur of barley as an interest-bearing loan”; masz2 1(asz) gur 1(barig) 4(ban2)-ta, “interest per gur: 100 litres”; and tab-am3 tab-be2-da, “it will be doubled”, from tab, “to double”.
Uncertain: what amount the doubling applies to; and where the tablet was written.
Our confidence: high. This is a standard loan formula with a clear penalty clause.
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 (TCL 2, 1911, hand copies of Louvre tablets from Drehem). Dates use the conventional middle chronology and are approximate.