Position in chronology
Lippmann Coll 185
About this tablet
An Akkadian-period administrative tablet from the city of Adab in southern Iraq (roughly 2300–2100 BCE), listing silver weights just under 2 minas assigned to several named individuals. The amounts are almost perfectly standardized — 2 minas minus 5 shekels each time — pointing to an official roster of disbursements, perhaps wages or ration-equivalents calculated in silver. At least one recipient carries the administrative title 'inspector,' suggesting this is a list of minor palace or temple functionaries. The tablet's mix of Sumerian names (Geme-Enlil, Nin-adgal) and Akkadian names (Ma-ma-ummi, Ta-ni-a) is typical of the bilingual bureaucratic world of the Akkadian empire.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
The following officials are each recorded as receiving just under 2 minas of silver — specifically, 2 minas less 5 shekels (roughly 55 grams short of the full amount): Ma-ma-ummi, Geme-Enlil, and Nin-adgal. Ashdar receives a full 2 minas, with a subtotal notation. One entry is partly broken, but it records a similar amount for Tania, who held the rank of inspector. The rest of that line is damaged. This is a concise payroll or allotment record — the kind of everyday bureaucratic paperwork that kept an Akkadian-period institution running.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine2 [+n] mina(s), less 5 shekels — Ma-ma-um-mi. 2 minas, less 5 shekels — Geme-Enlil. 2 minas — Ashdar; total. [n] mina(s), less 5 shekels — Ta-ni-a, [inspector]. 2 minas, less 5 shekels — Nin-adgal.
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
2(asz@c) [n] ma#-na# la2 5(disz@t) gin2 ma-ma-um-mi 2(asz@c) ma-na la2 5(disz@t) gin2 geme2-en-lil2 2(asz@c) ma-na asz-dar# pap [n] ma-na la2 5(disz@t) gin2# ta2-ni2-a [nig2]-banda3# 2(asz@c) ma#-[na] la2# 5(disz@t)# [gin2] nin#-ad2#-[gal]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — Lippmann Coll 185. 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 314 (Carl L. Lippmann Collection, Real Academia de la Historia, Madrid, Spain) — from Adab (mod. Bismaya) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P472485). source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-4-6 (2026-05-28/v6-glossary-aware).
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