Position in chronology
MVN 03, 030
About this tablet
This is a short list of people from the Old Akkadian period, about 2300–2150 BCE, and its exact findspot is unknown. Each name has a single tally mark in front of it, so the tablet counts individuals, probably workers or other dependents of an institution. The names are mostly Akkadian, which is typical of the period. The final lines are broken. They may have given a summary, an occupation, or a place, perhaps Uruk, but too little survives to say.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
One person each: Bubu, Kulatum, Beli-laba, SI-A-um, Išma-il and Bilzum. That makes six people listed by name. A line follows that seems to begin "man" or "men of", but the rest of it is lost. The next line may mention the city of Uruk, but it is too damaged to read with confidence. The end of the tablet is broken away.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1 (person): Bubu 1 (person): Kulatum 1 (person): Beli-laba 1 (person): SI-A-um [1 (person)]: Išma-AN (Išma-il?) [1 (person)]: Bilzum man? [......] [(...)] Unu(g)? [......] (rest destroyed)
Our translation engine — Opus 5.5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Spotted an error? Suggest a correction — confirmed corrections feed the engine's knowledge base.
Transliteration
1(asz@c) bu-bu 1(asz@c) ku-la-tum 1(asz@c) be-li2-la-ba 1(asz@c) SI-A-um [1(asz@c)] ISZ-ma2-AN [1(asz@c)] bil3-zum lu2#? [...] [(x)] unu# [...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — MVN 03, 030. 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: Free Library of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA (P215686) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-opus-5-5 (2026-09-20/v8-evolved).
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Related sources
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