Position in chronology
Lippmann Coll 166
About this tablet
This is a small administrative account from Adab (modern Bismaya) in southern Iraq, dating to the Akkadian (Sargonic) period, roughly the 23rd century BCE. It records quantities of garlic or onions issued to a series of named individuals — several identified as scribes or accountants — with a final total and a note that the whole batch was formally booked out as an expenditure in a given month. Texts like this are the routine bookkeeping of a large institutional household (temple or palace), tracking foodstuffs moving out to officials and staff.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This tablet is a monthly expense report for garlic or onions issued from a storehouse at Adab. Twenty units went to Ur-Usu the scribe, ten to Ur-mah, five to Ur-Enlil, six to Dada, and an unknown amount to a group called 'Ebabbar,' who are noted as the accountants in charge of the records. Another thirteen units went to Adda, another scribe, apparently handed over to the group named just before. Adding it all up, the total comes to 54 units of garlic, and the scribe notes that this whole amount has been formally written off the books as spent. The transaction is dated to the harvest month.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine20 (units) garlic/onions — Ur-Usu, the scribe. 10 — Ur-mah. 5 — Ur-Enlil. 6 — Dada. [n] — Ebabbar — they are the registrars (sa12-du5). 13 — Adda, the scribe — given to them(?). Total: 54 (units) garlic. Garlic — it is a disbursement (booked-out expenditure). Month: 'Grain-harvest.'
Our translation engine — Sonnet 5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
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Transliteration
2(u@c) szum ur-u4-su13 dub-sar 1(u@c) ur2-mah 5(asz@c) ur-en-lil2 6(asz@c)# da-da [n?] e2-babbar sa12#-du5-me 1(u@c) 3(asz@c) ad-da dub#-sar# e#-ne?-szum2#? szunigin 5(u@c) 4(asz@c) szum szum zi-ga-am3 [iti] sze-|SZE.SZE|-kin-am3
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — Lippmann Coll 166. 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 028 (Carl L. Lippmann Collection, Real Academia de la Historia, Madrid, Spain) — from Adab (mod. Bismaya) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P472466). source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-5 (2026-05-28/v6-glossary-aware).
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