Position in chronology
Lippmann Coll 216
About this tablet
This is a short administrative receipt from the city of Adab, dating to the Akkadian (Sargonic) period, roughly 2300-2200 BCE. It records the disbursement of fifteen 'bar-dul5' cloaks — garments overseen by the royal majordomo — to a chief fuller, presumably for cleaning, finishing, or preparing them for use in a street procession or public occasion. A named official, Lugal-itida, is recorded as the commissioner who oversaw the transaction, and the month is given for the palace's fiscal records. Tablets like this one are the everyday bookkeeping of a royal textile economy, showing how cloth moved between palace storerooms, craftsmen, and officials under close administrative supervision.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Fifteen bar-dul5 cloaks, under the authority of the king's majordomo, were handed over to the head fuller — likely so he could clean or finish them, possibly for use in a street ceremony. Lugal-itida served as the official who supervised the handover. The transaction was recorded in the month of Ab-e-ziga.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine15 bar-dul5 garments — (the concern of) the majordomo of the king — to the man, the chief fuller, were given (to him). Garment(s) for/within the street. Lugal-itida (was) its commissioner. Month: Ab-e-ziga.
Our translation engine — Sonnet 5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Transliteration
1(u@c) 5(asz@c) bar-dul5 szabra lugal-ka lu2 azlag2-gal-ra e-na-szum2 tug2# sza3 sila-ka lugal#-iti#-da maszkim-bi iti ab-e3#-zi-ga#
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — Lippmann Coll 216. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: CL 123 (Carl L. Lippmann Collection, Real Academia de la Historia, Madrid, Spain) — from Adab (mod. Bismaya) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P472516). source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-5 (2026-05-28/v6-glossary-aware).
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