Position in chronology
MAD 5, 042
About this tablet
A small administrative receipt from the city of Kish in the Old Akkadian (Sargonic) period, roughly 2300–2150 BCE. It records a handful of goats — kids and a nanny goat — delivered to or taken by named individuals and officials, including a cupbearer, a merchant, and the governor. Documents like this are the everyday paper trail of livestock moving through an urban administration under the kings of Akkad.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
One young goat and one female goat — the text then breaks off — were received by the cupbearer, the merchant, and the governor. In addition, one kid goat went to a man named Nabi-Suen, and another kid to a man attached to the household of someone whose name is now lost. In short: a short tally of five or more goats handed out to, or collected by, a mix of officials and private individuals.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1 1 kid (goat) 2 1 nanny goat [...] (break) 3 the cupbearer, 4 the merchant, 5 (and) the governor 6 received (it). 7 1 kid (goat): 8 Nabi-Suen. 9 1 kid (goat): 10 the man of the house(hold) of [...]
Our translation engine — Fable 5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
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Transliteration
1(asz@c) _masz2_ 1(asz@c) _ud5#_ [...] _sagi#_ _dam-gar3_ _ensi2_ im6-hur 1(asz@c) _masz2_ na-bi2-suen 1(asz@c) _masz2_ _lu2 e2?_ [...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — MAD 5, 042. 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: Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, UK (P215366) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5 (2026-09-20/v8-evolved).
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