The following cuneiform tablet is from an anonymous Chinese private collection. The tablet dates to the 24th day of the twelfth month of the second regnal year of Šu-Suen, the fourth ruler of the Third Dynasty of Ur (ca. 2112-2004 BC) and stems from Puzriš-Dagan (mod. Drehem). The paper presented here offers a full edition, including a transliteration and translation. This work is written as part of research funded by the Key Project on Philosophy and Social Sciences of Ministry of Education of China (Grant No. 23JZD040). I would like to thank the Chinese owner of this tablet for permitting me to publish it here. Any mistakes or errors, however, are my sole responsibility.
Clay tablet (P550456)
CC BY 4.0 Without Attribution
Inscription
| obverse | translation | |
| 1. | [1(diš) sila4] Da-˹da˺ [ensi2] | One lamb of Dada, the governor, |
| 2. | 1 sila4 ˹Hu˺-un-d[Šul]-/gi | One lamb of Hun-Šulgi, |
| 3. | 1 sila4 Hu-ba-nu-du-uk | One lamb of Huba-nuduk |
| 4. | 1 amar maš-da3 nita2 | One male young gazelle |
| 5. | 1 amar maš-da3 munus | One female young gazelle |
| 6. | ˹Nu-ur2˺-dŠul-gi | of Nur-Šulgi |
| reverse | ||
| 1. | u4 24-kam | on the 24th day, |
| 2. | mu-[DU] | delivery, |
| 3. | In-ta-e3-a | Intaea |
| 4. | i3-[dab5] | received; |
| 5. | ĝiri3 Nu-ur2-[dEN.ZU dub-sar] | via Nur-Suen the scribe |
| 6. | ˹iti˺ še-[KIN-ku5] | Month: “barley-harvest.” |
| 7. | ˹mu˺ ma2-dara3 [abzu dEn-ki] / ba-[dim2] | Year: “the boat of Enki ‘ibex of the Abzu’ was caulked.” |
| left edge | ||
| 1. | 5 | (Sum:) 5 |
Commentary
This text records that Intaea received the deliveries of animals (lambs and gazelle) of various individuals. For the administration of Intaea, the official of the Puzriš-Dagan organization, see mainly Sigrist 1992, 295-301; Tsouparopoulou 2013; Liu 2017, 190-215. For the deliveries of animals (mu-DU) from the Puzriš-Dagan archives, see recently Liu 2021; 2022.
- obv. 1) For the individual Dada, who was identified as the governor of Nippur, see MVN 08, 219 (P115609); MVN 15, 138 (P118418); YOS 04, 077 (P142141). Another possibility is that Dada was the governor of Kuara, for which see TSU 078 (P135230); Princeton 2, 055 (P201053).
- obv. 2) For the individual Hun-Šulgi who was an Amorite (mar-tu), see TCL 02, 5508 (P131597).
- obv. 3) The individual Huba-nuduk who was the deliverer of animals from Puzriš-Dagan was also attested in the texts BCT 1, 057 (P105159); Rochester 076 (P128181); Nisaba 08, 091 (P320511).
- obv. 6) The individual Nur-Šulgi who was the deliverer of animals from Puzriš-Dagan was also attested in the texts Ontario 1, 127 (P124540); BPOA 06, 0769 (P210541).
- rev. 5) For the concluding ĝiri3-formula, see Hilgert 2003, 24-25.
References
- Hilgert, Markus. 2003. Drehem Administrative Documents from the Reign of Amar-Suena. Cuneiform Texts from the Ur III Period in the Oriental Institute. Vol. 2. Oriental Institute Publications 121. Chicago, Illinois: The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago.
- Changyu, Liu. 2017. Organization, Administrative Practices and Written Documentation in Mesopotamia during the Ur III Period (c. 2112-2004 BC): A Case Study of Puzriš-Dagan in the Reign of Amar-Suen. Kārum - Emporion - Forum 3. Ugarit-Verlag.
- Changyu, Liu. 2021. “Prosopography of Individuals Delivering Animals to Puzriš-Dagan in Ur III Mesopotamia.” Akkadica 142 (2): 113–42.
- Changyu, Liu. 2022. “Prosopographical Statistics Appendix of the Article ‘Prosopography of Individuals Delivering Animals to Puzriš-Dagan in Ur III Mesopotamia,’ Akkadica 142/2, 2021, Pp. 113-142.” Cuneiform Digital Library Preprint 24 (0). https://cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/articles/cdlp/24.0.
- Sigrist, Marcel. 1992. Drehem. CDL Press.
- Tsouparopoulou, Christina. 2013. “A Reconstruction of the Puzriš-Dagan Central Livestock Agency.” Cuneiform Digital Library Journal 2023 (2). https://cdli.ucla.edu/articles/cdlj/2013-2.