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:

‘The tablet is an administrative document from the period of the Third Dynaty of Ur dated to the second year of Ibbi-Sin, last king of the dynasty, c, 2027 B.C. It is a list of rations issued to official messengers:

Translatio
5 sila of beer, 5 sila of bread: Lulu-bani, king’s messenger when he went from Kimash to the king. 3 sila of beer, 2 sila of bread: Ilushu-bani, king’s messenger when he went to Der. 5 sila of beer, 5 sila of bread: Shaga, ing’s messenger when he went to Simashkum. 3 sila of beer, 2 sila of bread: Ahu-tãb, king’s messenger when he went from Sikrash to the king. 5 sila of beer, 5 sila of bread: Hulal, king’s messenger when he went on route to Anshebaran-zikum. 2 sila of beer, 2 sila of bread: Pululu, groom when he went to Anshebaran-zikum. 10 sila of beer, 10 sila of bread: Ilum-asu, king’s messenger when he went for barley. 5 sila of beer, 5 sila of bread: En-ushimma, royal scribe. 5 sila of beer, 5 sila of bread: …-eshkuga, royal scribe. 5 sila of beer, 5 sila of bread: Lugal-shugalamma, royal scribe when they went t bring out … barley for the traction oxen. 3 sila of beer, 2 sila of bread: Igi-annake-zu, king’s soldier: sick. 3 sila of beer, 2 sila of bread: Ur-E’anna, king’s soldier, sick, when they went from the army route. Disbursement of the month Festival of the Fathers. Year: the high priestess of Inanna of Uruk was chosen by divination. 10th day.

A sila was a measure of capacity, about .85 of a litre. It is an obvious way to measure beer, but not to measure bread, and the ancient scribes never explain the matter. Perhaps the flour was measured, not the baked product. This tablet is important for the details of the purposes tablets of this category. Generally the same quantity of beer and bread are stated, but when 3 sila of beer is specified, most often only 2 sila of bread is added. Again, it is not clear why.