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. His scanned
analysis is presented here. This document is
a list of rations paid out to official
messengers.
Professor Lambert’s translation is provided
below:
‘Clay tablet with 34 lines of Sumerian
cuneiform on the obverse, reverse and left
edge. A small patch of damaged surface on
the reverse, otherwise condition fine. An
administrative document from the period of
the Third Dynasty of Ur, dated to the second
year of Ibbi-Sin, last king of the dynasty, c.
2027 BC. It is a listing of rations issued to
official messengers.
Translation:
2 roast sheep, 20 sila of soup, 20 fish:
Sharrum-bani, vice-regent. 1 sila of soup, 1
fish: Shu-Ishtaran, king’s messenger. 1 sila
of soup, 1 fish: Iddin-Erra, king’s messenger
when they went from Der to the king. 1 sila
of soup, 1 fish: Sharum-Ili, king’s messenger
when he went to Der. 1…., 3 sila of soup, 2
fish: La-Qipum, cup-bearer, king’s
messenger when he went for the king’s
offering. 1 sila of soup, 1 fish: Shurush-Kin,
[king’s messenger], when he went for…..1
sila of soup, 1 fish…..: Ahuni, king’s
messenger when Ilum-Bani……., went to
renew….1 sila of soup, 1 fish: Lu-Sin, king’s
messenger when he went to arrest the
runaway servants of the palace. 1 sila of
soup, 1 fish: Lugal-a…,king’s messenger
when he went to the governor. 1 sila of
soup, 1 fish: Pululu, groom when he went to
Anshebaran-Zikum. Disbursement of the
month Kirisi-ak. Year: the high priestess of
Inanna of Uruk was chosen by divination.
10th day.
The sila was a measure of capacity, about
.85 of a litre. Fish were the major source of
protein for Sumerians, both sea fish and
fresh-water fish, because cattle could not be
kept easily due to lack of good pasture for
most of the year, though sheep and goats
were common. Both fresh and dried fish
were common elements of diet.’
