Position in chronology
MAD 5, 099
About this tablet
A land-survey record from the Old Akkadian (Sargonic) period, around 2300 BCE, possibly from the site of Umm al-Jir in central Iraq. A surveyor paces off the four sides of several fields — east, west, south, north — computes their areas in the standard units (iku and eše), and notes the barley connected with each plot, probably seed or yield. The final lines locate one small field by naming its holder, Ilī-dan, and its neighbor, Ilī-mupi — the same 'bounded on the side by so-and-so' convention still used in land deeds today.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
A field measures 29 rods on its east side, 28 on the west, 25 on the south, and 22 on the north: area roughly one eše and three-quarters of an iku, with just over two gur of barley noted. A second field runs 28 rods on the south, 30 on the north, 62 on the east, and 40 on the west: area about two eše and two and three-quarter iku, with one barig of barley. A third set of side-measurements follows — about 2 on the north, nearly 20 on the south, 13 on the west — but the next lines are broken. After the gap, a damaged line mentions a house or household, then a final entry: one iku of field with its barley, belonging to Ilī-dan, bordering the land of Ilī-mupi.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine(Obverse) 1. 30 minus 1 (= 29 rods on the) east (side), 30 minus 2 (= 28 on the) [west (side)]; 2. 25 (on the) south (side), 22 (on the) [north (side)]; 3. field: 1 eše 1/2 iku 1/4 iku of area; ... barley: 2 (gur?) 1 barig. 4. 30 minus 2 (= 28 on the) south, 30 (on the) [north]; 5. [6]2 (on the) east, 40 (on the) [west]; 6. [fi]eld: 2 eše 2 iku 1/2 iku 1/4 iku of area; barley: 1 barig. 7. [...] 2(?) (on the) north, 20 minus [n (on the) south]; 8. [...] 13(?) (on the) we[st, ... (on the) east]; 9. [...] 10. [...] (Break) 11. ... and ... carried(?) ... house(?); 12. 1 iku of field [...] barley ...; 13. (of) Ilī-dan, 14. adjacent to (the field of) Ilī-mupi.
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
3(u@c) la2 1(asz@c) kur 3(u@c) la2 2(asz@c) [mar-tu] 2(u@c) 5(asz@c) u5 2(u@c) 2(asz@c) [mer] a-sza3 1(esze3@c) 1/2(iku@c) 1/4(iku@c) GAN2 x sze 2(asz@c) 1(barig@c) 3(u@c) la2 2(asz@c) u5 3(u@c) [mer] [1(gesz2@c)] 2(asz@c) kur 4(u@c) [mar-tu] [a]-sza3 2(esze3@c) 2(iku@c) 1/2(iku@c) 1/4(iku@c) GAN2 sze 1(barig@c) [...] 2(asz@c)#? mer 2(u@c) la2 [n u5] [...] 1(u@c)#? 3(asz@c) mar#-[tu x kur] [...] [...] ZI x u3 x IL2? e2 1(iku@c) GAN2 [...] sze x i3-li2-dan da i-li-mu-pi5
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — MAD 5, 099. 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 (P215421) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5 (2026-09-20/v8-evolved).
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