Index of English Translations of Sumerian Clay 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.
“6 shekels of silver, bearing no interest: Erra-bani received them from Ur-tir-kuga. To be repaid by the month Masda-gu. He swore by the king’s name.”
A silver loan from the age of Ibbi-Suen, still sitting inside its envelope text. The inner tablet and the envelope say almost the same thing; the envelope adds the oath in full.
CDLI places it at Puzriš-Dagan. The date is the month Ezem-mekigal of the year “the en of Inanna of Uruk was chosen by omens”, Ibbi-Suen’s second year, around 2027 BC.
The loan
Six shekels of silver, maš nu-tuku, “bearing no interest”. Erra-bani receives them from Ur-tir-kuga. Repayment is due by month Masda-gu, about two months later in the Drehem calendar. Four men witness the inner tablet; the envelope repeats three of them and adds the royal oath.
Why an envelope
Old Babylonian and Ur III loans were often sealed inside a clay envelope that repeated the text. If the inner tablet was disputed, the envelope could be broken and compared. Here both surfaces survive in the modern copy. Erra-bani’s seal names him “son of Nanna-[kam].”
What the tablet doesn’t tell us
We don’t know why the loan was interest-free.
We don’t know what Erra-bani needed six shekels for.
We don’t know whether he repaid on time.
And we don’t know Ur-tir-kuga’s profession; the tablet gives only his name.
Silver without interest
Interest-free silver is less common than the standard 20 percent rate, but it is not unknown. It can mark a favour, a temple or palace advance, or a loan between people who already owed each other something. The tablet does not choose among those readings. It only records the sum, the deadline, the oath and the witnesses.
YOS 4 published the hand copy in 1919. We found no English translation of this tablet in its CDLI publication history.
The tablet in full (our translation)
Tablet, front: 6 shekels of silver, bearing no interest. From Ur-tir-kuga, Erra-bani received them.
Tablet, back: To be repaid by the month Masda-gu. Before Irib; before Lugal-hegal; before Adda-kalla; before Šununu. Month: Ezem-mekigal. Year: the en of Inanna of Uruk was chosen by omens.
Envelope: 6 shekels of silver, bearing no interest. From Ur-tir-kuga, Erra-bani received them. Lugal-hegal. Before Irib; before Adda-kalla; before Šununu. To be repaid by the month Masda-gu. He swore by the king’s name. Month: Ezem-mekigal. Year: the en of Inanna of Uruk was chosen by omens.
Seal: Erra-bani, son of Nanna-[kam].
How we read it
Key lines in transliteration: 6(disz) gin2 ku3-babbar masz2 nu-tuku, “6 shekels of silver, bearing no interest”; su-su-dam, “to be repaid”; and mu lugal-bi in-pa3, “he swore by the king’s name”.
Uncertain: the restored end of the father’s name on the seal; and why this loan carried no interest.
Our confidence: high. Tablet and envelope agree on the main terms.
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 (YOS 4, 1919 (Keiser), hand copies of Ur III temple documents). Dates use the conventional middle chronology and are approximate.
For the full description of sources, method, uncertainties, dating conventions, limitations, and how to report corrections, see About the Translations and Methodology.