Sumerian Clay Tablet with Tax Records for the Temple of Dungi

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Sumerian Clay Tablet with Tax Records for the Temple of Dungi

Place of OriginIraq, Umma (modern Tell Jokha)

Date2043 BCE

Dimensions5 5/16 × 3 1/4 in. (13.5 × 8.3 cm)

MediumClay

ClassificationUtilitarian Objects

Object number

1913.513

Not on View

Collections

Decorative Arts

Published ReferencesLangdon, Stephen H. 1913-1923. “Miscellanea Assyriaca II.” Babyloniaca 7, 79-80, no. 16. Van der Meiroop, Marc, "Cuneiform Tablets from The Toledo Museum of Art," Revue d'Assyriologie, no. 1, 1985, p. 18, 29, repr. pp. 30, 31. “Babyloniaca 07, 079 16 Artifact Entry.” (2001) 2024. Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (CDLI). August 15, 2024. https://cdli.ucla.edu/P104774. http://bdtns.filol.csic.es/catalogo_directo_new.php?numBDTS=003756 https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/epsd2/P104774Label TextThis clay tablet, inscribed over 4,000 years ago in the city of Umma (modern Tell Jokha, Iraq), records a meticulously structured taxation system that sustained the Ur III state (ca. 2100–2000 BC). It details the levies imposed on multiple farms, listing overseers responsible for collecting grain—primarily barley (še) and wheat (áš)—and reporting the totals to the central administration. Taxation in Sumer was both an economic necessity and a religious obligation. The final lines of this tablet reveal the ultimate recipient of the grain: the temple of Dungi, the deified ruler of Ur. In the Ur III period, temples functioned as economic engines, redistributing resources, financing large-scale construction, and supporting priesthoods. These records illustrate a civilization where political authority and divine power were deeply entwined, and where administrative efficiency underpinned both governance and worship. The tablet is dated to the third year of King Amar-Suen (Amar-Sin)’s reign (2044 BC), placing it within a crucial period of state expansion and economic centralization under the Ur III dynasty.