Position in chronology
MVN 03, 034
About this tablet
A short Sargonic-period field record, probably from the Lagash region (the personal name invokes Ningirsu, the god of Girsu). It notes two plots of farmland, one of them about 36 hectares, and the men who took them over, Unap and Dada. A closing note says the plots belong to the estate of a man named Lugal-itida and are tied to plough-oxen he held. This is the kind of land-tenure paperwork that tracked who worked which fields in the Akkadian empire's provinces.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
A field of 5 bur and 2 eše (about 36 hectares), known as Ningirsu-kepada's, was handed over to Unap. A second plot, of 5 [units; the exact measure and the field's name are partly broken], was taken over by Dada. Both belong to Lugal-itida's land, the land that goes with the oxen he took charge of.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1. 5 bur 2 eše of field (of / called) Ningirsu-kepada: 2. to Unap it was taken (over). 3. 5 [......] of field [......]-x-ZI.ZI-a: 4. Dada took (it over). 5. (This) is the field of Lugal-itida, 6. (land) of the oxen that he took over.
Our translation engine — Opus 5.5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
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Transliteration
5(bur3@c) 2(esze3@c) GAN2 nin-gir2-su-ke4-pa3-da u2-na-ap-sze3 ba-de6 5(asz) [...] GAN2 [...]-x |ZI&ZI|-a da-da ba-de6 GAN2 lugal-iti-da-kam gu4 dab5-ba-na-kam
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — MVN 03, 034. 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 (P215690) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-opus-5-5 (2026-09-20/v8-evolved).
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