Sumerian cuneiform is one of the earliest
known forms of written expression. First
appearing in the 4th millennium BC in what
is now Iraq, it was dubbed cuneiform
(‘wedge-shaped’) because of the distinctive
wedge form of the letters, created by
pressing a reed stylus into wet clay. Early
Sumerian writings were essentially
pictograms, which became simplified in the
early and mid 3rd millennium BC to a series
of strokes, along with a commensurate
reduction in the number of discrete signs
used (from c.1500 to 600). The script
system had a very long life and was used by
the Sumerians as well as numerous later
groups – notably the Assyrians, Elamites,
Akkadians and Hittites – for around three
thousand years. Certain signs and phonetic
standards live on in modern languages of
the Middle and Far East, but the writing
system is essentially extinct. It was
therefore cause for great excitement when
the ‘code’ of ancient cuneiform was cracked
by a group of English, French and German
Assyriologists and philologists in the mid
19th century AD. This opened up a vital
source of information about these ancient
groups that could not have been obtained in
any other way.
Cuneiform was used on monuments
dedicated to heroic – and usually royal –
individuals, but perhaps its most important
function was that of record keeping. The
palace-based society at Ur and other large
urban centres was accompanied by a
remarkably complex and multifaceted
bureaucracy, which was run by professional
administrators and a priestly class, all of
whom were answerable to central court
control. Most of what we know about the
way the culture was run and administered
comes from cuneiform tablets, which record
the everyday running of the temple and
palace complexes in minute detail, as in the
present case. The Barakat Gallery has
secured the services of Professor Lambert
(University of Birmingham), a renowned
expert in the decipherment and translation
of cuneiform, to examine and process the
information on these tablets. The following is
a transcription of his analysis of this tablet:
‘This is a tablet from the period of the Third
Dynasty of Ur, dated to the 2nd year of Ibbi-
Sin, last king of the dynasty, c.2027 B.C. It
is an administrative document giving the
quantities of food and drink issued to royal
messengers. The tablet is in virtually perfect
condition.
Translation:
30 sila of beer, 30 sila of bread: Mr Ur-Shu-
Sin, deputy grand vizier when he went to
the commissar of the Field of Nanna. 10 sila
of beer, 10 sila of bread: Mr Laqipum, cup-
bearer, king’s messenger when he went for
the king’s offerings. 3 sila of beer, 2 sila of
bread: Mr Nabi-Sin, king’s messenger when
he went from Der to the king. 3 sila of beer,
2 sila bread: Mr Abu-tab, king’s messenger.
3 sila of beer, 2 sila of bread: Mr Ur-Shulpa’e
king’s messenger. 3 sila of beer, 2 sila of
bread: Mr Nur-Shulgi, king’s messenger. 3
sila of beer, 2 sila of bread: Mr Adad-illati,
king’s messenger when they went to Der. 5
sila of beer, 5 sila of bread: Mr Shu-qatum,
king’s messenger when he went to seize the
fugitive slaves of Ninhursag. 10 sila of beer,
10 sila of bread: Mr Ulanish, vizier, king’s
messenger. 5 sila of beer, 5 sila of bread: Mr
Ur-Baba, scribe of the king. 5 sila of beer, 5
sila of bread: Mr Ili-satu, the… man when
they went to the city governor. 2 sila of
beer, 2 sila of bread: Mr Bululu, groom when
he went to Anshe-baran-Zikum.
Disbursement of the month Kirisi-ak. Year:
the high priestess of Inanna of Uruk was
chosen by divination. Left edge: 24th day.
Tablets of this general category have been
known before, but this one is important for
giving in many cases the purpose of the
journeys of these messengers. Previously
published tablets do not give these
interesting and important details.
A sila was about .85 of a litre, which fits the
beer as a measure of capacity, but to our
view it hardly suits bread. Perhaps it
measures the flour that went into the bread,
not the baked product.’
