Position in chronology
Lippmann Coll 072
About this tablet
An Akkadian-period administrative tablet from Adab in southern Iraq, recording two consecutive deliveries of grapes or wine — sorted by quality into large-grade and small-grade lots — destined for the new palace. The scribe tallies each batch in turn, labels them 'first' and 'second,' then gives grand totals before noting the destination and the month. Such records are the everyday bookkeeping of Mesopotamian palace provisioning, around 2300–2150 BCE, showing how scribes tracked even agricultural produce in two quality tiers.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Two shipments of grapes arrived at the new palace. First delivery: 93 large-grade and 130 small-grade. Second delivery: 71 large-grade and 138 small-grade. Final tallies: 164 large-grade and 208 small-grade grapes were brought in. The transaction is dated to the month of Šu-gar. (The stated total of 208 small-grade grapes is 60 short of the sum of the two individual batches — 130 + 138 = 268 — suggesting a scribal counting error of one sexagesimal unit.)
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine93 large grapes 130 small grapes — first [delivery] 71 large grapes 138 small grapes — second [delivery] Grand total: 164# large grapes Grand total: 208 small grapes [Into the] new palace delivered Month of Šu-gar
Our translation engine — Sonnet 4.6. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
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Transliteration
1(gesz2@c) 3(u@c) 3(asz@c) gesztin gal-gal 2(gesz2@c) 1(u@c) gesztin tur-tur a-ra2 1(disz@t)-kam 1(gesz2@c) 1(u@c) 1(asz@c) gesztin gal-gal 2(gesz2@c) 2(u@c) la2 2(asz@c) gesztin tur-tur a-ra2 2(disz@t)-kam szunigin 2(gesz2@c) 4(u@c) 4(asz@c)# gesztin gal szunigin 3(gesz2@c) 3(u@c) la2 2(asz@c) gesztin tur-tur e2#-gal gibil ba-kux(KWU636) iti# szu-gar
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — Lippmann Coll 072. This record has no stored scholarly English translation; the existence of published translations has not been checked; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: CL 048 (Carl L. Lippmann Collection, Real Academia de la Historia, Madrid, Spain) — from Adab (mod. Bismaya) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P472372). source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-4-6 (2026-05-28/v6-glossary-aware).
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