tablet

Sumerian administration document from the city PD = Puzri¸s-Dagan. “Livestock disbursed in Nippur by Nalu. Aradmu is the conveyer.”; ¸su-gid2. Translation: Obv: (1)1 barley-fed sheep, (2)for the MAR.TU, the men of the consignment(?); (3)1 full-grown barley-fed goat, (4)for the ones assigned in the quarter of the ¯Sagina(-garrison)(?); (5)20 sheep, (6)10 goats,
Rev: (7)as a ¸su-gid2-payment, (8)for the soldiers, (9)to the kitchen, (10)Aradmu is the conveyer, (11)day 11. (12)– (13–14)Disbursed by Nalu, (15)in Nippur; (16)The month of the eating of the Ubi-bird (iii);
Under side: (17)The year: The city of ¯Sa¸srum was destroyed. (¯S 42)
Left side: (18)(total:) 32.

This text is another example of a ¸su-gid2 delivery of livestock, this time disbursed by the animal fattener Nalu to the kitchen in the city of Nippur. Nalu – as a Puzri¸s-Dagan official – usually disbursed livestock to the temples in Nippur, but also to the temples in Ur. The tablet UET 3: 1224 from AS 6 discovered in Ur recording Nalu as receiving (i3-dab5) animals from the Nippur(?) official Halhalla, is therefore somewhat disturbing and raises the question whether Nalu sometimes was working in the city of Ur as well as in Puzri¸s-Dagan.
Nippur was situated very near Puzri¸s-Dagan on the east branch of the Euphrates in the middle of the Ur III state. It was founded in the Ubaid period (about 5000 BC) and remained occupied (with some possible brief interruptions) for the entire history of ancient Mesopotamia. Although it was a most important city and religious center during the whole history of Mesopotamia, Nippur seems to have been most prosperous during the Ur III period.
The text is particularly interesting because of the rare – or unique – groups of people and workers and their salaries(?) mentioned in lines 2 and 4.