Couvent Saint-Étienne, Jerusalem: 11 (2023-03-25)

Created by: Englund, Robert K.

A simple receipt from 2050 BC.

Drehem, ancient Puzrish-Dagan, was the revenue accounting, and Nippur cult servicing center of the Ur III kings of the 21st century BC. This unassuming Drehem document from the collection of the Couvent Saint-Étienne, Jerusalem, records the receipt by Šulgi-irimu, a relatively high-ranking official under the third and fourth kings of the dynasty, of a cow and a lamb, slaughtered for an unnamed repast. The text, like many thousands of others, is dated exactingly, in this case to 2/18/2039 BC (middle chronology); it reads (following the text from top to bottom in the lines, and from right to left on the tablet, as did the ancient scribes)    1 cow, seed of wild bull, 3rd year;    1 lamb;    slaughtered, 18th day;    from Zubaga    did Šulgi-irimu    receive;    month: “Piglet-feast,”    year: “The lord of (the moon-god) Nanna       installed in Karzida;”    (total:) 1 ox, 1 sheep. Scientific editions: Dhorme, Edouard, Revue d'Assyriologie et d'Archéologie Orientale 9 (1912) p. 51 SE 7; Ozaki, Tohru & Sigrist, Marcel, Tablets in Jerusalem: Sainte-Anne and Saint-Étienne (2010) no. 270. CDLI entry: P127544

credit: Englund, Robert K.