Position in chronology
MAD 5, 079
About this tablet
An everyday barley account from the Old Akkadian period (c. 2300 BCE), probably from Umm al-Jir in central Babylonia. A storehouse clerk records barley issued to named individuals — including one interest-free loan (ḫubuttum) — followed by three consecutive daily disbursements, and notes that the cupbearer delivered grain to a man named Guda'im. It is a small window onto how grain, the basic currency of Mesopotamian life, was lent, rationed day by day, and physically carried between people.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Two gur of barley (standard measure) went to Pū'a, and one gur to Ukāli — the latter booked as an interest-free loan. Then come three days of running disbursements: 3 barig and 4 ban of barley on day one, 3 barig on day two, 3 barig on day three, plus 3 ban for Bubu. Finally, the cupbearer carried a delivery of barley over to Guda'im. In short: a clerk's running tally of who got grain, on which day, and who delivered it.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine(obv.) 1. 2 gur of barley in the sag-gal measure — 2. Pū'a; 3. 1 gur of barley in the sag-gal measure — 4. Ukāli: 5. (it is) a ḫubuttum-loan. 6. 3 barig 4 ban of barley, that of day 1; 7. 3 barig of barley, 8. that of day 2; 9. 3 barig of <barley>, that of day 3; 10. 3 ban of <barley> — Bubu. 11. The cupbearer to 12. Guda'im 13. brought (it).
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
2(asz@c) _sze sag-gal2_ pu3-a 1(asz@c) _sze sag-gal2_ u2-ka-li hu-bu-tum 3(barig@c) 4(ban2@c) _sze_ szu _u4_ 1(disz) 3(barig@c) _sze_ szu _u4_ 2(disz) 3(barig@c) _<sze>_ szu _u4_ 3(disz) 3(ban2@c) _<sze>_ bu3-bu3 _sagi_ a-na gu2-da-im ub-lam
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — MAD 5, 079. 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 (P215402) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5 (2026-09-20/v8-evolved).
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