Position in chronology
Lippmann Coll 211
About this tablet
This is a routine ration or disbursement account from the city of Adab, dating to the Akkadian (Sargonic) period, roughly the 23rd century BCE. A scribe recorded how much fine flour was allotted to eight named individuals, then totaled the amounts and noted that the sum represented a surplus belonging to a group of wool-workers, closing with the month name for dating. Texts like this are the raw bookkeeping of a large institutional household — probably a temple or palace workshop — and give us the actual names of ordinary workers who otherwise left no trace in history.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This tablet is a payroll slip. Eight people — Mamumi, Nin-nig, Aštar, Tani, Nin-adgal, Nig-banda, Nin-nigzu, and Me-niginta — each received a measured share of fine flour, ranging from small amounts (30 liters) up to about 180 liters. Added together, the flour came to just over 3 gur (roughly 900+ liters), and the record notes that this total was extra stock kept on hand for the wool-workers' unit. The entry is dated to the month of Duku. As with many such accounts, the individual amounts and the stated total don't perfectly reconcile — likely due to a damaged or unlisted line — but the overall picture is a straightforward flour distribution to institutional staff.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1 barig 2 ban 5 sila of fine flour: Mamumi. 3 barig: Nin-nig. 2 barig 4 ban: Aštar. 1 barig: Tani. 2 barig: Nin-adgal. 1 barig 2 ban 5 sila: Nig-banda. 3 ban: Nin-nigzu. [4 ban]: Me-niginta. Total: 3 gur 4 ban of fine flour, being the surplus (outside the main account), [at the disposal of] the wool-workers. Month: Duku.
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
1(barig@c) 2(ban2@c) 5(disz) sila3 zi3 gig ma-ma-um-mi 3(barig@c) nin-nig2 2(barig@c) 4(ban2@c) asz-dar 1(barig@c) ta2-ni2 2(barig@c) nin-ad2-gal 1(barig@c) 2(ban2@c) 5(disz) sila3 nig2-banda3 3(ban2@c) nin-nig2-zu [4(ban2@c)] me#-nigin3#-ta szunigin 3(asz@c) 4(ban2@c) zi3# gig gur bar-ra gal2-la [ki] siki-ke4-ne-kam [iti] du6#-ku3#
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — Lippmann Coll 211. 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 121 (Carl L. Lippmann Collection, Real Academia de la Historia, Madrid, Spain) — from Adab (mod. Bismaya) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P472511). source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-5 (2026-05-28/v6-glossary-aware).
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