Position in chronology
MVN 03, 035
About this tablet
This is a small account tablet from Girsu in southern Iraq, written in the Old Akkadian (Sargonic) period, about 2300–2200 BCE. It records how a handful of pottery jars, apparently of two kinds, ordinary jars and a type called gur₄-gur₄, were handed out or used. One went to a named man, one apparently went on the fire, and one was given out as an allotment. A total line closes the account. It shows how closely temple and state administrators tracked even a few clay pots.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
One ordinary jar and one gur₄-gur₄ jar go to Lugu'ak. Another jar goes to someone or something whose name is damaged (it ends in '-geš'). A third jar, with a description that can't be read, is put on the fire. A gur₄-gur₄ jar is given out as an allotment. In total, three jars and two gur₄-gur₄ jars are booked out as spent.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engineObverse (?) 1. 1 jar, 1 gur₄-gur₄ (jar): 2. Lugu'ak. 3. 1 jar: 4. ......-geš (broken name or purpose). 5. 1 jar ...... : 6. placed on the fire (?). 7. 1 gur₄-gur₄ jar: 8. as allotment (lu₂-ba). 9. Total: 3 jars, 2 gur₄-gur₄ (jars), 10. expended (?).
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
1(asz@c) dug 1(asz@c) gur4-gur4 lu5#-gu-ak# 1(asz@c) dug x-x-gesz 1(asz@c) dug x izi#?-e mu-gar 1(asz@c) dug gur4-gur4 lu2-ba szunigin 3(asz@c) dug dug 2(asz@c) gur4-gur4 zi-ga#?
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — MVN 03, 035. 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 (P215691) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-opus-5-5 (2026-09-20/v8-evolved).
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