Position in chronology
MRAH O.5006
About this tablet
An administrative disbursement record from the Old Akkadian (Sargonic) period, around 2300–2150 BCE. A travelling official — a cupbearer named E-ĝeš — journeyed from Agade, the imperial capital founded by Sargon, to a man named Išarrum, and was issued five gur (several hundred liters) of two grades of flour, measured against an official bronze standard. Such travel-provision texts are small but precious witnesses to the road network and supply system that held the world's first empire together; notably, Agade itself has never been located by archaeologists.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Issued: three gur of fine flour and two gur of zatum flour, both measured out with the official bronze liter-measure. The recipient is E-ĝeš, the cupbearer, who travelled here from Agade to Išarrum; the flour was handed over to him. Dated in the month of Šuba-nun. In effect, this is a receipt for travel provisions: a court official on the road from the capital draws his flour allowance, and the clerk notes the quantities, the measuring standard, his route, and the month.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1. 3 gur of fine (gu-)flour, (measured) by the bronze sila each, 2. 2 gur of zatum-flour, (measured) by the bronze sila each — 3. (to) E-ĝeš, 4. the cupbearer, 5. who came here 6. from Agade 7. to Išarrum, 8. it was given. 9. Month: Šuba-nun.
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(asz@c) zi3-gu gur sila3 zabar-ta 2(asz@c) zi3 za-tum gur sila3 zabar-ta e2-gesz! sagi i-sar-ru-um-sze3 a-ga-de3-ta mu-szi-gen-a-am6 an-na!-szum2 iti szuba2-nun
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — MRAH O.5006. 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: Musées royaux d’Art et d’Histoire, Brussels, Belgium (P452981) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5 (2026-09-20/v8-evolved).
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