Position in chronology
MRAH O.5084
About this tablet
A small administrative receipt from the Old Akkadian period (c. 2350–2200 BCE), recording a delivery of about thirty liters of fine flour to the temple of the goddess Inanna. A man named Ḫili-za brought the flour in, an official called Ur-a supervised the transaction as commissioner, and the expenditure was booked under a man with the Akkadian name Išarrum, dated to the cultic month of Duku. It is a typical scrap of temple bookkeeping — the kind of routine paperwork by which Mesopotamian institutions tracked every measure of flour.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Receipt: roughly thirty liters of fine flour, delivered to the Inanna temple. Ḫili-za made the delivery; Ur-a signed off as the responsible inspector. The flour is booked as an outgoing expenditure under Išarrum's account. Dated in the month of Duku. In today's terms, this is a one-line ledger entry with the courier, the supervising official, and the accountable party all named.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine3 ban (c. 30 liters) of fine (sig₁₅-)flour — to the temple of Inanna. Ḫili-za delivered (it); Ur-a was the commissioner (maškim) thereof. Flour expended (zi-ga) (under) Išarrum. Month: Duku.
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(ban2@c)#? zi3-sig15-ga e2 inanna-sze3 hi-li-za in-kux(DU) ur-a2 maszkim-bi zi3 zi-ga i-szar-ru-um itix(|UD@sxBAD|) du6-ku3
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — MRAH O.5084. 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 (P453025) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5 (2026-09-20/v8-evolved).
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Related sources
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