Position in chronology
MRAH O.5009
About this tablet
An accounting tablet from the Old Akkadian period (c. 2350–2200 BCE), recording barley disbursed for brewing beer and baking bread. The barley goes to named brewers, to the palace household, and to a cult singer (gala), with the entries bracketed by month names that mark the period the account covers. It is a glimpse of the everyday supply chain behind two staples of Mesopotamian life — beer and bread — managed by an institutional bureau.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
A running ledger of barley issued over several months. Twice, 3 gur of barley (roughly 900 liters) went out for beer, one batch earmarked for the E-IGI household, between the 'Poplar' and Šuba-nun months, with the account's cut-off set at the month Al-mu. About 14 gur more of beer-barley went to Ur-gu and his colleagues, the brewers. Sixteen gur and 2 barig of barley were issued as bread-grain for the palace and for the lamentation singer, and a further 1 gur 1 barig went to Gisal-tura. The record closes by naming the months Šuba-nun and AB-us as its bookends.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine3 gur of barley — (for) beer; 3 gur of barley — (for) beer, for the E-IGI (household); month: "mu-asal" (poplar?) (and month) Šuba-nun; its term (za3-bi) is the (month) Al-mu(?). 14(?) gur of barley — beer(!) ...(sign unclear), (to) Ur-gu: they are the brewers. 16 gur 2 barig of barley — (for) bread, (for) the palace, (and for) the lamentation priest (gala). 1 gur 1 barig of barley (for) Gisal-tura. Month: Šuba-nun ...(dag?); month: AB-us.
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) sze gur kasz 3(asz@c) sze gur kasz e2-IGI-sze3 iti mu asalx(LAK212@v) szuba3-nun za3-bi al-mu-kam? 1(u@c) 4(asz@c)#? sze kasz! x ur-gu lunga-me 1(u@c) 6(asz@c) 2(barig@c) sze ninda e2-gal gala 1(asz@c) 1(barig@c) sze gur gisal-tu-ra iti szuba3-nun dag? iti AB-us2
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — MRAH O.5009. 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 (P452998) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5 (2026-09-20/v8-evolved).
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